Thai government winning war against drugs after seizing 5 billion baht haul from nation’s cartels

Photo via the Ministry of Justice

The Thai Minister of Justice yesterday revealed around 5 billion baht had been recovered from nationwide drug raids.

Somsak Thepsutin disclosed to Thai media the government is winning the war against drugs, cracking down on illegal cartels, and expects to recoup 10 billion baht by the end of the year after seizing more than half of that amount from illegal drug activity in Q1. Somsak says more plans, measures and operations are in the place as authorities delivered their findings to PM Prayut Chan-o-cha.

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The Minister of Justice revealed the difficulty in tracking down the illegal activity of drug cartels operating in Thailand’s underworld, but insisted the methods implemented ensure they are one step ahead of the drug trafficking gangs. Somsak added the government has a new strategy to eliminate drug traffickers by seizing their assets and cutting the source of their financial drug investment.

The minister says 30% of profits from the seized assets will go to relevant officers and residents who provided information leading to the arrest of those involved in the criminal activity, 25% to the authorities and 5% to residents.

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Somsak declared the target of seized assets for next year would be even greater than this year and warned all drug traffickers to cease illegal operations because the government take drug cases very seriously.

SOURCE: Thairath

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Petch Petpailin

Petpailin, or Petch, is a Thai translator and writer for The Thaiger who focuses on translating breakingThai news stories into English. With a background in field journalism, Petch brings several years of experience to the English News desk at The Thaiger. Before joining The Thaiger, Petch worked as a content writer for several known blogging sites in Bangkok, including Happio and The Smart Local. Her articles have been syndicated by many big publishers in Thailand and internationally, including the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Bangkok Post. She is a news writer who stops reading news on the weekends to spend more time cafe hopping and petting dwarf shrimp! But during office hours, you can find Petch on LinkedIn and you can reach her by email at petch@thethaiger.com.

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