Authorities have arrested 18 suspects and seized 6.2 million speed pills, 1.7 tonnes of marijuana, 325 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine and 5.4 kilogrammes of heroin in seven operations.
The operations were carried out in the past few weeks and three of the cases were interesting, said Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) chief Pol Lt Gen Sarayut Sa-nguanphokhai during a media briefing on Thursday.
In the first case, NSB police arrested two men and a woman in Saraburi province.
Kidakarn Pakdee, 26, of Nakhon Phanom; Ms Suthatta Hongloilom, 25, of Mukdahan; and Somchad Khonyuen, 44, o Mukdahan, were apprehended with 1.15 tonnes of marijuana. Also seized were two cars and five mobile phones.
The arrests were made by a police team being tipped that a huge amount of marijuana could be smuggled from the Northeast to inner areas in Bangkok. The team then spotted two suspected vehicles travelling from Mukdahan to Saraburi province.
The officers asked for a search when the vehicles stopped at a petrol station in tambon Nong Yao of Muang district, Saraburi, and the drugs were found hidden inside them, said the NSB chief.
In the second case, a combined team of NSB police, soldiers and customs officials seized 2.2kg of crystal methamphetamine hidden in an international parcel destined for the United Arab Emirates.
An X-ray and a subsequent search found the drugs stuffed in two air compressors and six packs of roasted coffee bean.
In the third case, six suspected drug couriers were caught and 5 million speed pills seized in Ayutthaya, said Pol Lt Gen Sarayut.
The suspects were caught in Phetchabun province while on the way to deliver the drugs to dealers in the Central Plains.
The arrests were made after police learned that the gang had been hired to deliver the drugs from the northern province of Phayao to the central region.
During questioning, the suspects confessed to having been hired for 2.3 million baht by a Hmong tribesman to smuggle the speed pills from Phayao to be delivered to clients in Wang Noi district of Ayutthaya.
Pol Lt Gen Sarayut said the Hmong tribesman was a member of a major drug network in the North and police were expanding the investigation.
Packages containing more than 6 million speed pills, 1.7 tonnes of marijuana, 325 kg of crystal methamphtamine and 5.4kg of heroin seized from 18 suspects are put on display during a media briefing on Thursday. (Photo supplied: Wassayos Ngamkham)