Drug arrest in Yala links to bigger network

Police announced on Tuesday the arrest the previous day of a local man in Yala’s Muang district and seized 30,000 “yaba” amphetamine pills valued at 2.4 million baht on the street and said they would continue to investigate to apprehend the man’s accomplices.

Yala police chief Pol Maj-General Krisada Kaewchandee told a press conference that police had arrested a rubber-tapper worker Awae Deuramae, 32, and found the drugs at a house in Tambon Buradee at around 1am on Monday following a tip-off about a drug delivery.

Awae said he had been contacted by a relative identified only as Nasae and told to collect the drugs from a man at a roadside in Yala’s Yaha district to deliver them to a customer in Tambon Buradee, Krisada said.

Police would attempt to apprehend other suspects involved in the drug-dealing network, he added.

Awae was initially charged for possessing drugs with the intent to sell and was transferred to Muang Yala police for further legal action.