NAKHON PHANOM - Authorities on Saturday night seized 470 kilogrammes of dried marijuana which had been smuggled across the Mekong River from Laos to Bang Phaeng district.
Eleven fertiliser sacks, stuffed with the marijuana, were found on the bank of the Mekong River at Ban Phaeng Tai in Ban Phaeng district.
The drugs were seized in an operation by a patrol from Rangers Company 2107 of the 21st Rangers Regiment following a tip-off.
Nobody was arrested.
Col Pramote Niamsamphao, commander of a task force of the 21st Rangers Regiment, said the marijuana had been smuggled across the Mekong River from Laos on long-tailed boats. The drugs were to be further delivered to a storage site in the province for sales during the rainy season, he said.
During the past two months about one tonne of marijuana were seized in Nakhon Phanom, mostly in Ban Phaeng district.
The price of marijuana was about 5,000 baht per kilogramme in the border area and would go up to about 20,000 baht in the inner part of the country, Col Pramote said.