SONGKHLA: The driver of a covered pickup was arrested and 500 kilogrammes of kratom leaves seized after a brief but erratic car chase in Hat Yai district in the early hours of Tuesday.
Defence volunteers manning a checkpoint in tambon Ban Phru on Kanchanavanit Road between Sadao and Hat Yai stopped a black Mitsubishi Pajero SUV registered in Songkhla for a search about 1.30am on Tuesday, believing the two men in it were acting suspiciously.
The two men claimed they were in a hurry to pick up a relative in Hat Yai.
A black Mitsubishi pickup with a cabin on the back and Bangkok licence plates was travelling about 100 metres behind the Pajero. It was signalled to pull over for a search. Instead, it was driven across the road divider and hurried off back the way it came from.
According to one of the defence volunteers, some of them gave chase in a vehicle. The fleeing driver then did a tight U-turn and headed back towards the checkpoint, but the road had by then been blocked with a pickup truck. (continues below)
The damaged left rear wheel area of the rammed pickup. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)
The Mitsubishi driver did not stop and rammed the pickup, causing his vehicle to plunge off the side of the road and come to a halt. The rammed pickup received severe damage to the rear left wheel area.
The driver, identified as Issahak Yenjai of Songkhla’s Sadao district, was caught. No volunteers were hurt.
A search found 69 sacks containing a total of 500kg of kratom leaves stacked inside the Mitsubishi. Mr Issahak was taken to Thung Lung police station.
Police said later the kratom leaves were en route from Sadao district to Hat Yai district. There were two vehicles involved, one travelling ahead as a look out. It was not known if the two men in the first vehicle were detained or not.
Sacks containing kratom leaves inside the Mitsubishi pickup truck in Hat Yai district, Songkhla. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)