Four arrested as police intercept 572 kilograms of marijuana heading south
Four suspects have been arrested after police intercepted an attempt to smuggle 572 kilograms of marijuana from Mukdahan to Songkhla.
The deputy Phatthalung police chief says that two suspects were arrested in Phatthalung in a pick-up truck carrying the drugs, along with a couple who were arrested in a car that was driving ahead to advise of any checkpoints ahead.
Acting on a tip-off, police monitored the two vehicles from Khuan Khanun district before they made the arrests in the main city district of Phattalung.
The pickup was stopped after it made a u-turn to buy petrol at the Asia Intersection. The 59 year old driver, Plaeng Khongna and 47 year old passenger Suwit Mongkol Supha were arrested. Both are residents of Mukdahan’s Muang district.
Police found 572 bars of compressed marijuana bars wrapped in 13 parcels. Each bar weighed around one kilogram.
The suspects denied any knowledge of the drug, claiming they were hired by two Lao men to drive ‘winter melons’ and ‘sponge gourds’ from Mukdahan in Thailand’s north-east to Hat Yai district in Songkhla. They said the two Lao men loaded the goods for them to drive and they were promised 45,000 baht on arrival.
Police also arrested the couple driving the ‘warning’ car a kilometre from the petrol station where the pickup was stopped.
The couple declined to speak to police after the arrest, but records of phone calls from their mobile phones showed they had made calls to the phones of the two suspects in the pickup.
SOURCE: The Nation
