CHUMPHON -- Police seized more than 200,000 methamphetamine pills hidden in a pickup truck's fuel tank and arrested two suspected drug couriers.
Yarameenyi Wahub, 35, and Ma-ae Jaebuaraheng, 43, were taken to a police news conference at the provincial police bureau on Tuesday after being arrested for smuggling 40 million baht in ya ba.
Police uncovered more than 200,000 meth pills in the modified fuel tank of a pickup truck seized in Prachuap Khiri Khan. (Photo by Amnart Thongdee)
Police Provincial Region 8 deputy chief Tawatchai Nilanutch said the Ban Pala security checkpoint on Phetkasem Road in Pathiu district on Monday received a tip that a gang of drug dealers was using at least two vehicles to deliver a large quantity of meth to the southern border provinces.
Officers pulled over Mr Ma-ae as his Honda Civic matched the description of one of the suspect vehicles. Police said he looked nervous and refused to answer several phone calls while talking to them. After tense interrogation, Mr Ma-ae confessed that he and Mr Yarameenyi -- who was following in a drug-filled Isuzu pickup -- were hired to transport the narcotics from Pathum Thani to Narathiwat, police said. Mr Ma-ae said he was scouting for police.
Mr Yarameenyee was apprehended at a hotel in Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan where police uncovered of bundles of 204,000 speed pills hidden in a specially-modified fuel tank of the Isuzu.
He said the Narathiwat natives recently had been released from prison after serving time for smuggling cannabis, contraband and migrant workers.
The Ban Pala security checkpoint in Chumphon has been recognised as a major point of interception for drugs and other illegal items head from North to South in recent years. More than 1 billion baht in drugs has been confiscated there in the past six months.