2 arrested in Narathiwat with 1,420 kilograms of meth – VIDEO

Police in the southern province of Narathiwat, on the Malaysian border, arrested 2 men and seized and 1,420 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden in a trailer truck in Tak Bai district in the early hours of this morning. A team of police, soldiers and local officials was sent to Padador village in tambon Na Nak following a tip that a large quantity of drugs would be smuggled into the area.

At around 2:30am, they team noticed an 18-wheel trailer truck with Surat Thani licence plates parked along a road in in the village. 2 men, identified as driver Somchai Thiankhrue from Nakhon Si Thammarat, and passenger Khamron Chanthamanee from Songkhla, were inside. Officers demanded to search the vehicle, which was loaded with steel bars. The men gave conflicting statements and acted suspiciously during questioning. The officers took them and the truck to nearby Muno police station.

During the search, the team found 35 fertiliser sacks containing 1,420 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden in the trailer truck.

Somchai and Khamron told police that a man, identified as Arwae Mohbakor, had asked them to meet him in the village and then follow him to deliver the drugs to another venue in Sungai Kolok, at the border. The team went to Arwae’s house in Tak Bai and his wife’s house in Sungai Kolok, but they both managed to flee before the team arrived. Authorities have ordered personnel at checkpoints to inspect vehicles carefully and hunt them down.

Team members say the seized drugs have a street value of over one billion baht.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post