A driver stopped for a breathalyzer test under the Lat Phrao expressway in Bangkok was instead found in possession of 6 million speed pills and 449kg of crystal methamphetamine.
Athit Boonyapratheep, 27, of Uttaradit province, was arrested after Chok Chai police stopped his Honda Jazz car, which had Phitsanulok plates, intending to breathalyse him at a checkpoint on Praditmanutham Road, Pol Gen Chalermkiart Srivorakhan said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
They thought he reacted in a suspicious manner, so searched his car instead. They found 400,000 methamphetamine pills and 5kg of crystal methamphetamine.
The suspect allegedly confessed he had picked up the drugs from a Mitsubishi Triton with Chiang Mai plates parked on a road in front of Peravech Hospital in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district.
Police searched the Triton and found many fertiliser sacks containing about 5 million more speed pills in the back. They also found another 444kg of crystal meth.
Mr Athit told police the drugs belonged to a man he knew only as Jazz, who hired people to pick up the drugs from the parked pickup.
He had couriered illicit drugs about 20 times since October last year and been paid 200,000 baht each time.
Pol Lt Gen Sutthipong Wongpin, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the suspect was tasked with storing the drugs and then delivering them to customers. The man had kept the drugs at his room at Charlie Mansion on Soi Lat Phrao 112, where about 200,000 more speed pills were seized.
Police pressed an initial charge of having illicit drugs in his possession with intent to sell. He was being held in custody by Chok Chai police.
The total seizure was 6,353,200 speed pills and 449kg of crystal methamphetamine.
Pol Maj Gen Theerapong Wongratpitak, chief of the MPB division 4, said police were extending the investigation to seize assets of those involved in drug smuggling.
There were two major drug trafficking networks producing the drugs, he said. The pills produced by the Wa Nua (Northern Wa) were recognisable by the "Y1" stamped on the tablets, while the pills manufactured by the Wa Tai (Southern Wa) typically bear the "999" mark, Pol Maj Gen Theerapong said.
The seized drugs belonged to the Wa Tai group.
Officers put packs of crystal methamphetamine on display during a media briefing on Tuesday. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)