A suspect was killed and 200,000 methamphetamine pills, or yaba, seized in a gunfight between police and two drug couriers in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district on Wednesday morning, police said.
Pol Maj Gen Wanchai Suwansirikhet, the Chiang Rai police chief, said Mae Sai district drug suppression police on patrol spotted two men at the bridge of Ban San Kled Thong in tambon Pong Ngam about 6kms from the border with Myanmar. One of them was carrying a bag.
When told by the police to stop for a search, the two ran away. One of them opened fire at the police, who returned firre. He was killed. A .38 pistol was found near the body. The other man dropped the bag and fled.
The dead man was later identified as Ah Pha, aged about 40, an Akha tribesman.
The police found 200,000 methamphetamine pills in the bag.