CHIANG RAI: Authorities have seized 200,000 speed pills abandoned by a drug gang near the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district of this northern province.
A combined team of narcotics suppression police, navy officers and Pha Muang task force soldiers was deployed to an area along the river between Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong after authorities learned that a gang was planning to smuggle drugs through the area, Thai media reported.
The team later found two fertiliser sacks abandoned in the roadside scrub in tambon Rim Khong, about 50 metres away from a ranger checkpoint
The sacks contained 204,000 methamphetamine pills bearing the stamp KKK and wrapped in small packs. Methamphetamine or "ya ba" tablets sell for up to 300 baht each, giving the haul a potential street value of 60 million baht.
Authorities believed smugglers had abandoned the drugs after seeing the ranger checkpoint.