PHATTHALUNG – Four people were arrested on Sunday after 988,000 methamphetamine pills were found in their car and a house in Kong Ra district of this southern province.
Two men, Arwae Salae, 29, and Korsem Iadkao, 40, and two women, Apinya Madchan, 28, and Nur-inee Salae, 24, were apprehended after they arrived at a house in Moo 3 village in Khlong Sai Kao subdistrict in a Mitsubishi sedan with a Narathiwat licence plate.
Police from the Crime Suppression Division's subdivision 4, who had been following the vehicle, asked to search the car and initially found 724,000 speed pills hidden in secret compartments behind the back seats. They also seized a Colt .45 pistol with seven bullets.
A thorough search of the house recovered another 264,000 speed pills buried under the toilet floor.
The seized drugs have a street value of at least 200 million baht, police said.
The arrests followed a tip-off that illicit drugs would be transported to a house in Kong Ra district before being smuggled out of the province.
The suspects allegedly confessed they were hired by a drug gang to hide the meth pills at the house and then move them to Sungai Kolok district, Narathiwat later.
Police said they are questioning the suspects further and will charge them with possession of Type 1 narcotics.