SURAT THANI: A man was arrested and 396,000 methamphetamine pills seized after a car chase in Phun Phin district on Friday, police said on Monday.
Pol Maj Gen Thakoon Netpukana, the provincial police chief, told a media briefing that about 6.30am on Friday a Mitsubishi pickup made a sudden U-turn about 200 metres from a police checkpoint at Moo 7 village in tambon Nong Sai, and took off.
As it headed back the way it came from, police gave chase. They shot out the left rear tyre and forced the vehicle to stop in Tha Chang district.
There were four blue plastic containers on the pickup. One of them contained packages of meth pills, 396,000 in total.
Thammarat Phothisan, 44, the pickup driver, said he picked up the four containers at an intersection in tambon Nong Sai, Phun Phin district, and was to deliver them to Sadao district of Songkhla.
Mr Thammarat had a prior record for drug offences. He had been imprisoned in Lampang and was released about two years ago, Pol Maj Gen Thakoon said.