NAKHON PHANOM: About 1.5 million methamphetamine pills were found in sacks on the bank of the Mekong River on Sunday night, and a long-tail boat believed used by the smugglers was impounded.
Col Pramote Niamsamphao, deputy commander at the Surasak Montree task force, said on Monday the two sacks held 1.58 million meth pills in total. They were found on the river bank at Ban Lao Suan Kluai of tambon Nong Thao in Tha Uthen district.
A long-tail boat was also found abandoned alongside the bank. The crew had fled.
Col Pramote said the drugs had been smuggled across the river and were intended for distribution through trafficking networks.
He said large amounts of drugs were being smuggled into the country, noticeably during Covid-19 outbreaks. Seizures were usually of a million pills or more at a time, Col Pramote said.
Over the past six months, more than 9 million meth pills had been seized in Nakhon Phanom province alone, he said.