CHIANG MAI - Some 2 billion baht worth of assets belonging to the family of alleged drug lord Lao Ta Saenlee has been seized in a joint operation on Friday morning.
More than 250 officers from Provincial Police Region 5, Northern Border Narcotics Suppression Centre, border patrol police and soldiers raided 57 target locations in search of drugs and illegal stuff.
The operation was led by Pol Maj Gen Poonsap Prasertsak, acting commander of Provincial Police Region 5.
The sites allegedly belong to the network of Mr Lao Ta, which include Wicharn Saenlee and Baramee Saenlee.
At a house in Moo 10, tambon Tha Torn of Mae Ai district, the authorities are still in the process of examining assets, which included more than 100 land title deeds of the Saenlee family.
At a construction materials shop in Ban San Ton Mue in Mae Ai district, 25 vehicles have been seized pending examination of fund sources.
The authorities also put up a sign on Mr Lao Ta's 40-rai coffee plantation to inform the public that it had been seized.
Altogether, the confiscated assets under examination were worth two billion baht.
Mr Lao Ta was arrested earlier this month for alleged links to foreign syndicates supplying drugs to Malaysia and Australia, according to the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).
The ONCB said Mr Lao Ta's drug ring was among 60 influential narcotics networks in the country, half of which had been cracked down.