Undercover policeman arrested for selling meth to teenagers in northeast Thailand

Police in Maha Sarakham province in northeast Thailand arrested a man yesterday for selling Yaba (“crazy drug”) – branded methamphetamine pills cut with caffeine – to teenagers in the Kantharawichai district. Turns out the drug dealer is an undercover policeman.

Yesterday, officers from the Royal Thai Police and Maha Sarakaham Provincial Special Operations Unit closed in on a hut in a rice field at a rural Isaan location after villagers complained that man was causing trouble in the local area and selling drugs to teenagers.

Officers kept watch in the bushes for a while. The moment the 43 year old suspect saw police, he ran into the rice field and dumped a bag of 44 Yaba pills and 500 baht in cash. Perhaps the move was a ploy to distract police from the huge stash of Yaba and two airsoft guns behind the man’s fridge, which police found.

The accused admitted buying “a lot” of meth pills from a teenager in Yang Talat district of Kalasin province for 30 baht (US$0.083) per pill. He sold the Yaba on to teenagers for 50 baht a pop.

The man told police he had been an undercover police officer working as a “spy” for the Royal Thai Police for eight years. He said he had seen so many crimes and arrests that he knew selling drugs could earn him a lot of money.

He was arrested under suspicion of “possessing a Category 1 Narcotic, disseminating a Category 1 Narcotic in the community, and possessing firearms without permission.”

The drugs and weapons were confiscated and the suspect was taken to Kantharawichai Police Station to undergo further legal proceedings.

Methamphetamine continues to be the most popular, cheap, and readily available illicit narcotic in Thailand and all of southeast Asia, where the synthetic drugs trade is booming.

Last year alone, more than one billion methamphetamine pills were seized in the east and southeast Asia, according to a report released by the United Nations. It is considered the “drug of greatest concern” in the region by the UN.

SOURCE: Sanook