CHIANG MAI: Police seized 5 million methamphetamine pills in a search of two pick-up trucks at a checkpoint in Lampang's Mae Phrik district on Saturday night, deputy police chief Pol Gen Suchart Teerasawat said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Three men and two women were arrested in connection with the drug haul.
On Aug 9, at about 10pm police manning the Mae Phrik checkpoint in tambon Phra Bat Wang Tuang stopped two pick-up trucks for a search.
The two vehicles were loaded with crates of tangerines.
But, when the two vehicles were driven through an x-ray machine, suspicious objects were detected hidden in them.
In a subsequent search, 2.5 million methamphetamine pills were found hidden in the tangerine crates in each of the two vehicles - or 5 million pills in total.
The drivers of the two pick-ups - Nathawut, 31, and Worawut, 22 (surnames withheld) - said they were hired for 8,000 baht each to pick up the tangerines from Wiang Haeng district in Chiang Mai and deliver them to the Talad Thai market in Khlong Luang district, Pathum Thani. They denied knowing there were meth pills hidden in the crates.
On the following day, with arrest warrants issued by the Lampang Court, police arrested a man, Athikhom, 28, and two women - Kusuma, 19, and Linda, 52 - in Wiang Haeng district. The three were allegedly involved in the loading of the crates of tangerines on the two pick-ups.
Another woman suspect identified as Suvanan managed to escape before the police arrived.