Bangkok Post

About 230,000 methamphetamine tablets were seized after the clash.

The exchange of fire occurred at about 7.55am when a 15-strong team of rangers from the 31st Rangers Regiment of the Pha Muang Task Force was on patrol in a valley near Ban E-kor Armae village at the Thai-Myanmar border in Thoed Thai district. The rangers had been sent to the area after information was received that a group of drug couriers would cross the border into Thailand with about one million speed pills.

At a spot about 2km north of the village, the patrol spotted the group of about seven armed men, each carrying a backpack. When ordered to stop for a search, the men opened fire and a clash went on for about 15 minutes.

In a search of the area after the clash, the bodies of three men in camouflage uniforms were found with three AK47 rifles and three backpacks.

The rangers followed a trail of blood and found the body of another man and a backpack with about 230,000 methamphetamine tablets in it.

Capt Sumit Saenduangdee, commander of the ranger patrol, said the traffickers were members of an armed Muser unit led by Lt-Col Yi Se, a drug suspect wanted under a warrant in Thailand with a bounty of 2 million baht for information leading to his arrest.

It was initially reported that the Muser group would deliver about one million speed pills from a Red Wa drug production base opposite Thoed Thai district.