Four alleged drug traffickers, including a Thai and foreign nationals, have been arrested and 48 kilogrammes of heroin plus ecstasy pills and hundreds of rounds of ammunition seized in Bangkok.
Police say the heroin originated in Myanmar from a network run by a United Wa State Army officer, and was being moved through Thailand to Taiwan by a Thai drug kingpin who remains at large.
Separate raids in in Bang Rak and Klong Toey districts of Bangkok on Friday led to the arrests of Narutchai Rojanatheerasarn, 27, of Chiang Mai; Taiwanese national Hsu Chang-Hung, and Chinese nationals Bai Ya Peng and Rao Xiao Hu. All four were taken for a media briefing at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) on Saturday.
Seized in the raids were 48kg of compressed heroin, 13,500 ecstasy pills, 1,050 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 4.9 million baht in cash and a car.
Mr Narutchai and Mr Hsu were caught on Soi Narathiwat Ratchanakharin 1 in Bang Rak district, while the two Chinese suspects were arrested at Klong Toey port, where the heroin was hidden in computer boxes, Thai media reported on Saturday.
Police later took the suspects to search their rented rooms in Sathon and Bang Kholaem districts where more heroin and the ectasy pills were seized.
Pol Lt Gen Rewat Klinkesorn, the NSB commissioner, said the four suspects confessed they had smuggled drugs to Taiwan three times via cargo ships. They were held in police custody on charges of colluding in possessing illicit drugs with intention to sell.
Pol Lt Gen Rewat said the suspects were members of a network led by a man identified as Veera Muenja. He is alleged to be the local contact for a man identified as Col Jolobo, reportedly a deputy commander of the 171st Division of the United Wa State Army, a major drug producer.