Police and military seize 4.7 million meth pills in Thailand
Driver arrested after drug transport attempt from Chiang Mai to central Thailand
Police Major General Siam Boonsom, along with senior police officials and the military intelligence unit, announced the successful apprehension of a major drug trafficking network.
The operation resulted in the seizure of 4.7 million methamphetamine pills on Friday, January 24 at 3.30pm.
The police received a tip-off that the suspect would be driving a ten-wheeler truck to collect drugs in Chiang Mai province and transport them to customers in central Thailand.
Following an investigation, the truck was tracked moving from Chiang Mai towards the central region. Police, along with army intelligence, had been monitoring the vehicle in Nakhon Sawan province. The truck displayed suspicious behaviour, deviating from its route to take a less-travelled road along the Maha Rat Canal in Lop Buri province.
Authorities suspected the truck was attempting to deliver drugs to clients by the canal. As they moved to intercept, the suspect attempted to flee, resulting in the truck plunging into the canal. The driver, 41 year old Somchit, was apprehended. He admitted this was his second time transporting drugs, having previously received 300,000 baht for such work.
Within the vehicle, items used for concealment were discovered, along with 21 sacks of methamphetamine that had spilled into the canal, totalling over 4 million pills. The suspect faces charges of possession with intent to sell a category 1 drug without permission.
Seized items included a white Isuzu truck, two mobile phones, and assets valued at approximately 150 million baht. Pol. Col. Worawit stated that this operation stemmed from an ongoing investigation following a previous drug-related arrest in Sena district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province.
It was found that the drug transport trucks often concealed drugs among agricultural products like ginger and basic goods such as corn or rice to evade detection.
Investigations revealed that the network uses central region locations as drug storage points before distributing to Bangkok.
Previously, drug seizures frequently occurred in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces, key routes into the capital, according to KhaoSod.
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