Police seized 24 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, worth 70 million baht yesterday and arrested three men in two separate busts in Bangkok and Nakhon Phanom.
In Bangkok, Arlae Sae Woo, 30, from Chiang Rai, was apprehended in Lat Phrao district with 21kg of ya ice, Pol Maj Gen Ronnasil Poosara, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 1 said.
Police posing as customers contacted Mr Arlae to buy illicit drugs following a tip-off that a northern drug-trafficking gang had supplied him with narcotics to distribute in the capital and surrounding provinces.
When Mr Arlae arrived on a motorcycle at the entrance to Soi Nak Niwas 49 on Thursday afternoon allegedly to deliver the drugs to undercover officers, police arrested him. Two kilogrammes of ya ice were seized.
A search of his room at the Tamnak Thong apartments in nearby Soi Nak Niwas 47 yielded 19 packs of ya ice, each weighing a kilogramme. The seizure was worth about 63 million baht, police said.
Police said Mr Arlae confessed he worked for a Lisor tribal drug trafficker known as Mr Meng. He claimed he had been paid 10,000 baht a month by the drug gang. Police charged Mr Arlae with colluding to have illicit drugs in his possession with intent to sell.
Meanwhile, Assawin Srimuang, 21, and his 17-year-old brother were caught and 3.1kg of ya ice were seized after police searched their house in Tha Uthen district of Nakhon Phanom. The drugs were worth about 10 million baht.
Police said the suspects confessed they distributed drugs for a Lao drug trafficker. The trafficker contacted them by phone to deliver the drugs and paid them 10,000 baht for each delivery, they allegedly said.
The brothers needed the money to celebrate New Year, police said.