New Yaba pill laced with crystal meth to increase potency

A new type of yaba (methamphetamine) pill in Thailand is being laced with a crystal meth coating to boost its potency. The news comes after Border Patrol Police say they seized 40,950 Yaba pills in Thailand’s northeastern Nakhon Phanom province. Police say the pills are not the regular yaba pills that have existed in the country for years, but are a new and more potent type.

They say a drug syndicate is responsible for smuggling the new type of pills into Thailand through the Thai-Laos border. The pills were supposed to be distributed nationwide during the Songkran holiday before police seized them. Police say the smugglers escaped before they could arrest them.

Investigators told the Chiang Rai Times that a drug delivery was set to take place on the Thailand-Laos border. Police went to the suspected location and seized the drugs after finding them in a duffel bag, wrapped in blue plastic.

Border police have stepped up surveillance of the area in recent months, seizing more than 10 million yaba pills along the border. They say this new group of seized pills is worth an estimated 7 million baht as the laced with meth drugs sell for about 150-200 baht each.

Yaba, nicknamed the “madness drug”, was outlawed in Thailand during the early 1970’s. It has many nicknames but is made of a combination of stimulants such as caffeine and methamphetamine, or even crystal methamphetamine (ice). The drug usually comes in a red pill form with the letter WY imprinted on it.

Those who take the pills, usually smoke them off of tin foil, but it can be taken orally or snorted. Most of the pills are laced with a flavor such as vanilla. As with all unregulated street drugs, the ratio between caffeine and methamphetamine varies, with some pills featuring 20% of yaba ingredients.

Thailand is considered to be one of the largest distributors of yaba, with the neighbouring country of Myanmar being one of the largest producers.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times