A couple have been arrested in Chiang Rai after a police search found almost 100,000 speed pills hidden in a cargo of bamboo shoots on their pickup truck.
Rung Yatha, 48, and his wife Thida Thondee, 43, were presented at a police press conference in Chiang Rai province on Monday. Police said they seized 96,000 speed pills from their vehicle.
Their arrest followed a tip-off that a gang planned to transport smuggled drugs from Wiang Kaen border district of Chiang Rai into the heart of the country.
Police manning Ban Huay Ian checkpoint stopped a pickup truck for a search about 8pm on Saturday. The vehicle carried buckets of bamboo shoots on the back. Police became suspicious because two buckets were lighter than the other buckets, and they were firmly sealed. This prompted the police to force open the two buckets and they found the methamphetamine pills hidden inside.
Driver Rung and his wife Thida denied any knowledge of the illicit drugs. They reportedly said they had been hired for 50,000 baht by a man identified as Worawit Khongtharasaichon to deliver bamboo shoots to a customer in Hat Yai district of Songkhla.
Police investigators were not convinced by their explanation and they were detained.
Pol Col Weerawut Niamnoi, acting Chiang Rai police chief, said strict checks at border areas might have forced the drug gang to change their usual route for transporting drugs to Wiang Kaen district, to avoid being caught. Luckily, police on duty became suspicious and arrested the suspects and seized the drugs, he said.