The Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) is seeking formal cooperation with its Malaysian counterpart in a bid to expand the investigation into the Lao drug network of kingpin Xaysana Keopimpha.
NSB commissioner Sommai Kongwisaisuk said on Friday that Thai and Malaysian authorities will next meet up to discuss at a formal meeting how to ramp up efforts to catch more members of the drug ring.
The cooperation would follow a more informal arrangement the two countries had after it was discovered the ring had affiliates in Malaysia.
The operation to be carried out with the help of Malaysian police is code-named Chaiya Sayop Phairi 60/3, he said, adding it is the third episode in the NSB's crackdown on Xaysana's gang.
The first part of the operation code-named Chaiya Sayop Phairi 60/1 was carried out when Mr Xaysana was arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport last month and the second one followed when authorities later raided several spots suspected to be linked to the same gang both in Bangkok and in the provinces.
The main purpose of seeking cooperation from Malaysian police is to seek the extradition of Maroning Jako, a drug suspect in southern Thailand who had previously been detained by Malaysian police and who the NSB suspects is linked to the Xaysana drug network, said Pol Lt Gen Sommai.
Mr Xaysana is also suspected to be linked to a drug ring in Kelantan and possibly linked to more gangs in Kuala Lumpur as well, he said.
"Malaysia has so far been cooperating well with Thailand and the former is confident in the information Thai and Lao police have jointly found out about this transnational drug network," he said.
The NSB found that the important suspect behind this drug network is a person with dual Malaysian-Thai nationality who has likely been involved in some violent incidents in Thailand's southernmost provinces and who travels back and forth between Thailand and Malaysia.
In this regard, he said, Thailand and Malaysia will discuss the possibility of exchanging important criminal suspects which could be possible even without an extradition treaty. The Xaysana drug network was found to be linked to at least three gangs in Thailand and four more in Laos, he said, adding that police have already identified all the three Thai gangs in which a number of well-known figures are involved.
