8 million meth pills seized in Chiang Mai drug courier arrest
A 24 year old drug courier named Jiraphat, hailing from the Phrao district of Chiang Mai, was apprehended by drug suppression police. The arrest took place at an intersection in Chiang Dao district. Approximately 8 million methamphetamine pills were confiscated from the pickup truck driven by Jiraphat.
The seizure was made on Monday, with the methamphetamine pills found stashed in 46 sacks. The sacks were in the bed of the Chiang Mai registered pickup at the Ping Khong intersection in the Chiang Dao district. The recovered haul totalled 7,920,000 meth pills.
The capture and seizure were confirmed today, February 27, by Police Lieutenant General Khirisak Tantinawachai, who heads the Narcotics Suppression Bureau. The full identity of Jiraphat was not disclosed. Legal proceedings have been initiated against him, with the local police taking over.
The police intercepted the vehicle based on intelligence that suggested a large consignment of drugs was scheduled to be transported from the northern border to the Central Plain. The drug courier Jiraphat, was found seated in the pickup with close to 8 million speed pills concealed in sacks on the back of his vehicle in Chiang Mai province.
Only three days ago, in a gripping crackdown on drug trafficking, authorities in Chiang Rai province netted 1.8 million meth pills and assets valued at 10 million baht, with the arrest of 10 suspected couriers in three major drug busts.
At a Pukaeng Road checkpoint in Phan district, police officers intercepted a suspicious pickup truck sporting Bangkok licence plates. Their suspicions were well-founded as a search uncovered a staggering 200,000-speed pills concealed within the vehicle.
According to Police Lieutenant General Kritthaphon Yisakhorn, commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 5, the driver, identified as Sutthiphong, confessed to his role in the smuggling operation. Sutthiphong, a 29 year old native of Nakhon Si Thammarat, revealed he had been hired to transport the illicit cargo from Chiang Rai’s Mae Yao district to a drug agent down south.
