Police on Koh Phangan arrested Yohai Gild, a 44-year-old man described as of Israeli descent and British nationality, in February 2020.[1] Officers from Koh Phangan police station searched a luxury house in Ban Tai on the island’s south coast, where they arrested him.[2] Gild was held with other Israelis on suspicion of selling cocaine, ketamine and cannabis and other drugs.[2]

The search of the bedroom turned up a digital scale and many plastic bags prepared for dividing up drugs.[1] The drugs seized included dried cannabis and cannabis resin, listed in the police account as category-5 narcotics.[1] Police also found ecstasy, ketamine and cocaine in the bedroom.[2] Gild admitted at the police station that the seized drugs were his.[2] He allegedly offered to pay one million dollars to an officer in charge to be freed, and the police refused.[2]

He was charged with illegal possession of drugs and psychotropic substances with intent to sell and handed to the investigators at Koh Phangan police station.[1] The police said the case would be pursued along with checks on money trails and assets.[1] He was later reported to have been released on bail.[3] Globes said sources close to the company confirmed the arrest, and that the Thai account of cocaine, ketamine and marijuana dealing and a bribe attempt had not been confirmed in Israel.[3]

Gild was one of the pioneers of cannabis cultivation in Israel and founder of Better Cannabis, which he set up after studying cannabis cultivation in the United States.[3] The founding of Better Cannabis came after his studies of cannabis cultivation in the United States, and the company had a role in the young medical cannabis market in Israel.[4]