Drug dealer killed in shootout after high-speed chase

A shootout between Royal Thai Police, army troops, and drug dealers led to one death, an arrest, and 4 million methamphetamine pills seized in a breath-taking, high-speed chase in Chiang Rai last night.

Pha Muang Task Force narcotics suppression police and soldiers, tried to pull over a pickup truck with fake Chiang Rai licence plates at a road checkpoint at about 10.30pm yesterday on Phaholyothin Road in tambon Ban Du of Muang district.

According to Bangkok Post, the driver ignored the instruction and put his foot down through the checkpoint with police cars in hot pursuit in a high-speed chase.

Police vehicles managed to get past the pickup, as it passed a market in tambon Ban Du, and block the suspects’ passage. The driver of the pickup smashed his vehicle into the obstructing police cars and opened fire. The gunfire was fleeting. When it stopped arresting officers found the dead body of the driver, an unnamed drug trafficker, and his accomplice, identified as 34 year old Jathor Janu of Chiang Rai’s Mae Chan district.

Police also discovered 20 large sacks in the pickup, each containing 200,000 methamphetamine pills.

Jathor was taken into police custody where he faces charges of colluding in possessing illicit drugs with intent to sell, resisting officers and attempting to kill them, illegal possession of a weapon and carrying it in a public area.

A police spokesperson reported that they were acting on a tipoff that a large number of illicit drugs would be smuggled south from the border in the Mae Fa Luang and Mae Chan districts of Chiang Rai.

Methamphetamine has caused chaos in Thailand over the past few years and it is easy to see why. You can buy a meth pill for less than ten baht, much cheaper than any alcoholic beverage.

The Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, this week suggested making changes to the law so that anyone possessing five or more meth pills should be considered a ‘drug dealer’ and therefore serve a much longer prison sentence.

The comments come after PM Prayut declared a war on drugs in response to the daycare centre massacre in Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeast Thailand on Thursday.

Pictures courtesy of Pha Muang Task Force