A joint force of soldiers, police, and Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) officials yesterday raided 49 locations in 13 provinces, arrested 23 drug suspects and seized assets worth about 100 million baht in total.
Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, deputy national police chief in charge of narcotics suppression, second from right, with the images of drug suspects whose assets were seized in raids in 13 provinces yesterday. Chinpat Chaimon
The assets seized belonged to suspects in Chiang Rai, Phayao, Uttaradit, Nakhon Sawan, Tak, Chainat, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, and Bangkok, said Phermphong Chaowalit, secretary-general of the ONCB.
These suspects were found to be in the same drug network connected to the arrest of nine suspects and the seizure of 3 million tablets of methamphetamine in Phetchabun on March 15-16, he said.
By tracking suspects via the gang's money trail, the authorities found that bank accounts of gang members' relatives were used to receive money from the drug buyers and to pay for trafficking and distributing costs, said Mr Phermphong.
Ruangrit Yangwinijchai, who is wanted in connection with the seizure of 158,000 methamphetamine pills and 1,020 grammes of crystal methamphetamine in Lampang's Thoen district on July 6, 2012, managed the network's money and drug orders, he said.
After receiving orders, three teams handled trafficking — smuggling the drugs from a neighbouring country into Thailand, and distributing them to customers, he said.
The first team was responsible for getting the drugs into Thailand.
It handed them over to the second team which acted as a go-between, handing the drugs to the third team which distributed the drugs to customers in Bangkok, Phetchaburi, Chai Nat, Ratchaburi, and Songkhla, he said.
The customers of this network were drug addicts, dealers, and prisoners in Ratchaburi provincial prison, he said.
The joint force operation was directed by Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, deputy national police chief in charge of narcotics suppression.
During the raids, the teams used a mobile phone application called "Clear Sea" to send video footage of their operations to the ONCB's command centre so officials could promptly give instructions, said Mr Phermphong.