Marine police seize 30 kilograms of methamphetmine from squid fishing boat

Marine police seized 30 kilograms of methamphetamine from a squid fishing boat drifting between Koh Tarutao off Thailand’s Satun coast and Malaysia’s Langkawi Island. One person was on the boat. The man, who is a Satun resident, was detained and taken to the mainland for interrogation. Reports do not say what charges the man faces.

Officers were dispatched to Koh Tarutao after receiving a tip that drug traffickers planned to pass through the island. Marine police monitoring the area spotted a suspicious vessel named “Kor Niyomsin.” The boat was registered as a squid-catching vessel. It was even rigged with the bright green lights used to attract squid. Officers searched the boat and found 30 kilograms of methamphetamine, which reports say have a street value of around 6 million baht.

Just one man was on the boat. The man, identified as a Satun resident named Ti, was arrested and taken to the mainland for questioning. Police are still investigating.

In Satun last month, Thai maritime authorities and Satun marine police seized 1.2 tonnes of heroin and methamphetamine valued at around 1 billion baht that had been left in a canal near the Malaysian border. Officers were surveying a mangrove forest when they found 39 large plastic bins packed with drugs in the wetland. Police suspect the drugs were likely dropped off in the secluded location to be picked up by another trafficker to be smuggled out of the country, probably to Malaysia.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand