Police arrested an alleged Lao drug lord whom they have been hunting for five years and three compatriots at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday.
Xaysana Keopimpha, 41, accompanied by a man and two women whose names have not been released, were apprehended while they were leaving the arrival terminal after a trip to Phuket at about 5pm in an operation which involved more than 100 anti-narcotic and tourist officers.
Pol Lt Gen Sommai Kongwisaisook, commander of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, described Mr Xaysana as a major drug trader who had never been arrested for drugs offences. But investigators had found links between him and other arrested suspects.
"These people have killed so many of our children. We have arrested about 50 Thai people in Mr Xaysana’s network over the past five years. They have smuggled more than 5 million ya ba [methamphetamine] pills into Thailand,” Pol Lt Gen Sommai said.
Pol Lt Gen Sommai said Mr Xaysana was considered to be in the same league as two other drug kingpins, Wei Sia Kang and Lao Ta Saenlee.