A new type of speed pill, known as ''frung-fring", has emerged in Khon Kaen following the arrest of three drug suspects, including a college student and a monk.
The suspects — Visanu Ngarmkiatsap, 22, a native of Khon Kaen's Ban Phai district, Vatcharachai Phayom, 31, of Ban Phai district, and Paiboon Thongsuk, 30, of Kanchanaburi's Sangkhla Buri district — were arrested yesterday by a combined team of police and soldiers.
They were taken before the media at the Provincial Police Region 4's forward command.
Officers seized 5,420 frung-fring speed pills and a rifle from the men.
This new type of illicit drug was mixed with a chemical substance to make the drug turn fluorescent in the dark, said Pol Lt Gen Detnarong Sutthicharnbancha, acting chief of the Provincial Police Region 4.
The pills, which were green and orange, contained high amounts of methamphetamine, said Pol Lt Gen Detnarong.
The suspects were on a wanted list of drug suspects in Khon Kaen, he added.
Authorities monitored the movements of the gang before raiding the house of Mr Visanu, a former military private and now student at a college in Khon Kaen.
Mr Visanu later implicated the two other suspects. Mr Paiboon was a monk in Khon Kaen's Chonnabot district.
The gang sold their drugs to teenagers, students and pub-goers, said the Provincial Police Region 4 acting chief.
The suspects allegedly confessed they had received 5,000-10,000 baht as an incentive for the sale of the illicit drugs.
An initial investigation found the gang had tried to introduce new types of illicit drugs to attract more users.
Pol Lt Gen Detnarong said police investigators were extending the investigation to find other members of the gang.
In Pathum Thani, a member of an alleged drug network operated by a prison inmate was arrested and 14,200 speed pills were also seized yesterday.
Kittipong Kaew-on, 24, was caught after a police officer posing as a drug buyer contacted him to buy 200 speed pills.
Mr Kittipong showed up with the drugs in front of a convenience store near Sahamit housing estate in Pathum Thani's Muang district and was arrested.
Police say he confessed to the drug charges and was taken to his house in Nonthaburi where another 14,000 speed pills were found.
Mr Kittipong told police he worked as a driver for a company in Nonthaburi, but his salary was not enough to make ends meet.
He had been approached by a drug network operated by an inmate at Khlong Prem prison in Nonthaburi to sell drugs.