CHIANG RAI: A drug smuggler was caught and one million methamphetamine pills seized from his pickup truck following a police chase in Mae Sai district on Wednesday night.
Police manning a checkpoint at the entrance to Thamluang-Khunnam Nang Non forest park in tambon Pongpha, near the Myanmar border, signaled a pickup truck with Chiang Rai licence plates to stop for a search around 8pm.
Methamphetamaine pills in packages stamped "999" seized in Chiang Rai on Wednesday night. (Photo by Chinpat Chaimon)
Instead, the driver sped off towards Phahol Yothin Road and police gave chase. They caught up with the fleeing vehicle, which had stopped on the side of the road with engine trouble.
Driver Songpor Sae Zong, 32, of Phaya Mengrai district of this northern province, was inside the pickup truck, alone. Police found seven sacks on the back. They contained one million speed pills in packages stamped with the numerals "999".
Mr Songpor was questioned and then handed over to police at Mae Sai police for charges to be laid.
Police believed the drugs belonged to a gang of traffickers led by a Myanmar man identified only as Armae, of Pha Khao border village opposite Chiang Rai’s Mae Fa Luang district. The gang often used this route to smuggle drugs.
Earlier, narcotics suppression police from the Provincial Police Region 5 received information that a large amount of illicit drugs would be smuggled from the border to inner areas of Chiang Rai province on Wednesday night. Local police set up road checkpoints along the route, leading to the arrest.