Police arrested 70 suspects and seized more than 700,000 methamphetamine pills, 14 guns and 77 rounds of ammunition during five days of anti-drug raids in the North.
Those arrested included a married couple suspected of being members of a major drug trafficking network. They were arrested in Chiang Mai province on the first day of the operation.
Pol Lt Gen Piya Tawichai, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 5, and senior police and drug suppression officials released the details of the raids yesterday. He said police impounded assets worth more than 60 million baht from drug trafficking networks in Chiang Rai, Phayao and Nan provinces during the raids.
The operation reportedly ran from Monday to yesterday, with 70 suspects arrested and 712,020 meth pills, 14 illegal firearms and 77 rounds of ammunition seized.
Police said two of the suspects arrested were members of a large drug trafficking ring. They were identified as Mai Sae Ja from Chiang Mai's San Sai district and her husband Jaimoo from the province's Wiang Haeng district. They were reportedly apprehended at two different locations in Saraphi district on Monday.
Police said the woman was caught in a sting operation set up by an undercover police officer who contacted a gang and arranged a 25,000-baht purchase of speed pills.
When Ms Sai showed up at an agreed spot on a road in tambon Saraphi, police searched her and found 4,000 meth pills in her possession, police said. Officers then arrested her husband at a house in tambon San Phra Nate in San Sai district, where 20 meth pills were found. A search of a dormitory room used by the couple netted 708,000 more meth pills, police said.