NAKHON PHANOM: A teenage Lao youth was arrested and 11.1 million methamphetamine pills with a street value of 3 billion baht seized on the bank of the Mekong River in Tha Uthen district on Monday night.
It is the largest drug seizure in the Northeast for several years, Rr Adm Pisit Thongdeelert, head of the Mekong Riverine Unit, told a news conference at MRU headquarters on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old suspect was among about 20 smugglers in a large long-tailed boat spotted pulling into the riverbank in Ban Na Nongbok village, Tha Uthen district, by a marine patrol around 8pm on Monday.
The patrol announced themselves and asked to search them, but they all immediately jumped in the river and swam away - except for the arrested teenager, who could not swim.
A search revealed 30 fertiliser sacks and black plastic bags in the boat, stuffed full of packages holding 11.1 million pills in total.
Rr Adm Pisit said the drastic crackdown on illicit drugs in the North had led to smugglers changing their regular routes, with many now using the Northeast instead.
The young suspect refused to give any information about the gang's operations. He was to be handed over to narcotics suppression police for further interrogation.