Half a tonne of high grade compressed marijuana seized in NE Thailand

Thai border police have seized half a tonne of “high grade marijuana” Nakhon Phanom province, north east Thailand, saying a border with Laos and the Mekong River. Border police announced the seizure of 480 kilograms of marijuana during a routine roadside search.

Police announced that a car was intercepted on a road near Ban Khok Sawang. The driver, 25 year old Likit Boonprasit, was detained and later arrested by border police. They found 12 fertiliser sacks containing a total of 480 1 kilogram “bricks” of of compressed marijuana. He told police the marijuana had been smuggled across the Mekong in long-tail boats from Laos.

The man said he would be paid 30,000 baht to deliver the marijuana to Bangkok. He told police that the delivery instructions were to be sent to him as he headed towards Bangkok. More than 3 tonnes of high grade marijuana out of Laos have been seized in Nakhon Phanom over the past month.

At the end of last month border patrol police seized 556,000 methamphetamine pills and 138 kilograms of compressed marijuana in That Phanom district, on a road near the Mekong River.

In that case police found 3 fertiliser sacks containing 556,000 methamphetamine pills and 4 other sacks with 138 kilograms of Marijuana in an abandoned vehicle.

Police claim the pills were being transported from Myanmar, via Last, as an alternative route into Thailand. They were then smuggled by long boat across the Mekong river.

Road routes and traditional border crossing have been closed as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times