Four people reportedly arrested during Laos’ second-largest illegal drugs bust last week

Four people were arrested during the second-largest seizure of illegal drugs by Laos police in Huay Xai province north of Bokeo last week, with authorities reporting 36 million methamphetamine pills, a total weight of 590 kilograms, were found.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime regional representative, Jeremy Douglas, says… “Those four who were arrested were pretty low-level… there were no kingpins.”

In a photograph released by AFP, the suspects and police are photographed in front of a wall of drugs, which is made up of sacks heaped up like sandbags.

The raid occurred three months after officers in the same area stopped Asia’s largest-ever haul of methamphetamine pills in a beer truck. A total of 55 million pills were seized. According to Douglas, Thailand has never had a seizure of such size, although the amphetamine tablets were thought to be headed there while the ice was bound for higher-value markets, such as Australia.

Laos, which is part of the Golden Triangle, stretches from Myanmar to Thailand and has long served as a crossroads for Southeast Asia’s rich narcotics trade, becoming a transit point for traffickers smuggling methamphetamine from Myanmar’s Shan state across the Mekong River into Thailand.

SOURCE: Phnom Penh Post