CHIANG RAI: Police shot dead two men from Lampang province who opened fire when their pickup truck was stopped for a search, and then found 5 million speed pills and 199 heroin bars on the vehicle, in Wiang Pa Pao district early on Monday morning.
Narcotics suppression police said they were tipped off that two men were transporting illicit drugs from Chiang Dao district, which borders Myanmar, of Chiang Mai province.
About 1am police blocked the suspects' expected route on Highway 1150 in tambon Wiang, and stopped their white Isuzu pickup truck.
Two men, identified later as Khomsan sae Song, 31, and Suchart sae Lee, 27, got out of the vehicle and then produced guns and opened fire at police, who responded. After five minutes of gunfire there was silence, and police found them dead, two pistols beside their bodies.
The tray of the truck had a cargo of vegetables, with the drugs concealed beneath them.