UBON RATCHATHANI: A Lao man was wounded and 200,000 speed pills seized after a shootout between a drug trafficking gang and security forces near the Mekong River in Khemarat district.
The 35-year-old suspect, identified only as Thao Pon, was apprehended with 200,000 methamphetamine pills after the exchange of gunfire late Friday night, said Capt Pornpirom Yotboon, chief of a navy unit providing security along the river.
The man sustained serious gunshot wounds and was taken to Ubon Ratchathani Hospital.
The seized drugs have a street value of up to 60 million baht.
Before the clash, a combined team of naval officers, police, rangers and other officials had gone to the area near the river in Khemarat on Friday night after receiving information that a gang would deliver illicit drugs to a teak tree plantation nearby.
The officers subsequently spotted a boat travelling from the Lao side of the Mekong River with six men on board. One of them jumped from the boat to survey the area before two armed men followed. A fourth man then carried a fertiliser sack from the boat, with the two other men providing protection.
The officers emerged from their hideout to demand to search the cargo, but the men refused and opened fire instead. This prompted the officers to return fire, Capt Pornpirom said on Saturday.
After the shooting stopped, authorities found the wounded man next to a fertiliser sack containing 100 bundles with a total of 200,000 speed pills. The other men managed to flee.