SURAT THAI/CHIANG MAI - Five drug traffickers have been arrested in separate police operations in the two provinces, with one gang hiding methamphetamine pills in a sack of rice and the other inside boxes of fruit.
Two Hmong men and the 90,000 speed pills found hidden in two cardboard boxes containing passion fruit for delivery to Talaad Thai market in Pathum Thani, at a police media briefing on Wednesday. (Photo by Cheewin Sattha)
In Surat Thani, three men were arrested after methamphetamine pills were found hidden in their car in Ban Na San district on Wednesday morning.
Tha Chi police stopped the Toyota car for a search at a checkpoint in tambon Khuansri and found 59,860 speed pills hidden in a sack containing rice.
The trio were identified as driver Abdon Halim Ponpadung, 35, Chonwee Torlae, 21, both from Krabi and Chatchai Noonsang of Surat Thani, said Pol Maj Gen Apichart Boonsrirot, chief of Surat Thani police.
Mr Chonwee allegedly confessed he was to be paid 270,000 baht to deliver the drugs from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat. He claimed it was the first time he had done this, but police were not convinced, said Pol Maj Gen Apichart.
Surat Thani police show the three alleged drug traffickers, in handcuffs, and their car, after they were caught with about 60,000 speed pills hidden in a sack of rice on Wednesday. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)
In Chiang Mai, two Hmong men were arrested attempting to ship 90,000 methamphetamine pills hidden under a load of passion fruit to Pathum Thani by a delivery truck.
Prasit Raothao, 38, and Singkhon Aryiku, 32, from Mae Hong Son’s Pai district, were arrested after police stopped their pickup on the Chiang Mai-Lampang Road in Muang district of Chiang Mai on Tuesday.
Their arrest followed the seizure of 90,000 methamphetmine pills found hidden in two of three boxes containing passion fruit, or saowarot, on a truck making deliveries of farm produce from Maejo bazaar to Pathum Thani, Pol Maj Gen Panudet Boonruang, deputy chief of Provincial Region 5, said on Wednesday.
Packages of speed pills found hidden inside boxes of passion fruit for delivery to a fresh market in Pathum Thani. (Photo by Cheewin Sattha)
One of the cardboard boxes contained 21 packages holding 42,000 methamphetamine pills and the other 48,000 pills.
The three sealed boxes each had the message “Pa (Aunt) Som 0979263133 saowarot’’ on the outside and were destined for Talaad Thai, the country’s largest fresh fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Pathum Thani, said Pol Maj Gen Panudet.
The suspects confessed to having used the trucking service to send the fruit boxes containing the drugs to Talaad Thai market, he said.
Police then searched Mr Prasit's rented room in Mae Rim district of Chiang Mai and found three empty cardboard boxes, eight rolls of adhesive tape, and a bag containing fresh passion fruit.
The suspects have been charged with possession of illicit drugs with intent to sell.
They allegedly confessed they had sent at least 10 previous shipments of methamphetamines to destinations in the central plains, hidden in boxes of farm produce, with about 100,000 speed pills in each delivery.
After the boxes were delivered, they would collect them and deliver the drugs to customers, police said.