CHIANG RAI: Authorities have seized nearly 5 million speed pills and a tonne of crystal methamphetamine after a chase involving two pickup trucks in a border area of this northern province.
A Hmong man is in custody in connection with the seizures in Thoeng district early Saturday.
A team of military rangers manning a road checkpoint in tambon Tabtao spotted two suspicious vehicles travelling from the border village of Paendingthong at around 2.30am.
Officers signalled them to stop for a search but the drivers made a U-turn and sped away. The rangers gave chase and when they reached Rakpaendin village, one of the fleeing pickup trucks skidded into a roadside ditch.
The rangers then divided into teams. One team examined the blue pickup at the scene, while the other team followed the second vehicle, which was later stopped.
Officers inspecting the blue pickup arrested driver Laopor Sae Fa, 46, of tambon Tabtao, and seized 44 fertiliser sacks. Sixteen of them contained 3.2 million speed pills and the rest contained a total of 560kg of crystal methamphetamine.
About 50 metres away from the blue pickup, rangers and local police found another 23 sacks that had been abandoned by the drug gang at around 7.30am on Saturday.
The sacks contained 1.6 million speed pills and 345kg of “ice”, bringing the total haul to 4.8 million pills and 978kg of crystal meth.
Part of the haul of illicit drugs and crystal methamphetamine seized from the two pickups. (Photo by Theerawat Khamthita)
A ranger examines one of two pickup trucks seized following a chase in Thoeng district of Chiang Rai early Saturday. (Photo by Theerawat Khamthita)
Military rangers inspect a pickup that skidded off the road in a border village of Thoeng district while being chased. (Photo by Theerawat Khamthita)