CHIANG RAI - Five people have been arrested in Mae Sai district and 200,000 speed pills, destined for Bangkok during the New Year holiday, seized.
The five, two of whom were women, were apprehended during a raid on a hotel room in tambon Pong Ngam of Mae Sai district of this northern province on Saturday.
Police reportedly found two plastic bags containing packs of 200,000 speed pills in the room. Two cars with Bangkok licence plates were also seized, said Pol Col Songkrit Ontakhrai, chief of Mae Sai police, during a briefing.
The suspects were Jeerapong Jai-on, 34, of Pathum Thani; Ms Pannayachaya Ketchan, 23, of Bangkok; Ms Suwanna Pansawang, 25, of Sa Kaeo; Anond Saiwong, of Prachin Buri, and an 18-year-old man from Ubon Ratchathani.
Mr Jeerapong and Ms Pannachaya allegedly confessed they had been hired by a man identified only as Art for 100,000 baht to take the drugs in Mae Sai border district for delivering to an agent in Bangkok. They then allegedly persuaded the other suspects to join them in smuggling the drugs during the New Year holidays, but were caught.
Pol Lt Gen Poonsap Prasertsak, acting chief of Provincial Police Region 5, had earlier asked local police to keep a close watch on drug smugglers who might pose themselves as revellers visiting the North during the New Year holiday and use this opportunity to smuggle narcotics.
Mae Sai police chief Songkrit Ontakrai displays packs of 200,000 speed pills seized from five suspects during a media briefing at Mae Sai police station in Chiang Rai on Saturday. (Photo by Chinpat Chaimon)