The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) is mobilising officials and villagers to help intercept a drug trafficking gang after an intelligence report found about 500 million methamphetamine pills may be smuggled into northeastern Thailand.
The report, which has been passed on to Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who is in charge of overseeing drug suppression, has prompted tighter surveillance in the northeastern border provinces of Mukdahan, Nakhon Phanom, Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani, ONCB region 3 director Witthawan Sunthonkhachit said.
Mr Witthawan said Pol Capt Chalerm was told around 500 million speed pills were waiting to be smuggled across the border in the Northeast.
Mr Witthawan said smugglers usually bring in the drug in small lots to evade suspicion.
A single shipment is unlikely to exceed 1 million pills.
The ONCB needs to increase the number of officers to better monitor any smuggling movements, he said.
"To be honest, ONCB officers in region 3 alone are not enough given the length of the border from the North to the Northeast," Mr Witthawan said.
Soldiers, police, state officials from agencies such as the Customs Department and villagers living near the border are needed to keep an eye out for drug smuggling, he said.
Barbed wire fences have been put up in border spots to stop illegal goods and drugs slipping into the country, he added.
The ONCB is also investigating allegations that some state officials are involved in drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, staff are preparing to set up a coordination centre between the government and banks to freeze the assets of drug suspects, ONCB secretary-general Pongsapat Pongcharoen said yesterday.
Banks can help officials track down and block the money routes of drug rings which hire people to open bank accounts for them and perform transactions through automatic teller machines, he said.
Police yesterday seized 620kg of marijuana worth 23 million baht from a pickup truck at a checkpoint on Asia Highway No.41 in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Tham Phannara district.
Officers say two suspects _ Samran Phankaeongao, 37, and Chinnakon Phimphun, 20 _ admitted they were hired to carry the drugs from the Thai-Lao border in Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom to customers in Songkhla and Phatthalung provinces.