NAKHON SI THAMMARAT — Nearly 150 suspected drug dealers and users were arrested in a pre-dawn anti-drug sweep across the southern province.
More than 420 military and police officers launched simultaneous raids on 126 locations in all 23 districts of Nakhon Si Thammarat at 5am Monday. A total of 146 people were arrested.
The widespread search-and-arrest operation mainly targeted street-level drug dealers and addicts in communities including one near the Nakhon Si Thammarat railway station in tambon Klung of Muang district. It was there Wanchai Saengkhao admitted to buying two methamphetamine pills before allegedly raping and killing a 13-year-old girl on an overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok last week.
Deputy national police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the train-station community was a distribution hub for ya ba tablets in the area. Police apprehended one of the two local drug dealers, Jinda "Jae Da" Pantharak, who is accused of selling ya ba to Mr Wanchai last week.
Another suspect identified as Wichai Rattana-ubol had fled arrest to Myanmar, he said.
Pol Gen Pongsapat, who lost his job as Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general early this month, said the pre-dawn raids exhibited satisfying results and officers were able to seize a large quantity of meth pills, drug paraphernalia and weapons from the alleged offenders.
Police would investigate further to identify people who supplied ya ba to the arrested dealers and send drug addicts to rehabilitation facilities, he added.