CHIANG MAI: Police have seized about 6 million methamphetamine pills and arrested one suspect in Mae Suay district of Chiang Rai province following a chase, Provincial Police Region 5 commissioner Pol Lt Gen Piya Tawichai said.
About 8.40pm on Sept 20, suspected smugglers were spotted by Mae Suay police travelling in two pickups along the Mae Lao - Mae Suay road in Chiang Rai's Mae Suay district, he said at a media briefing on Monday.
Mae Suay police followed the two vehicles and contacted Mae Lao police to set up a checkpoint to intercept them.
As they neared the checkpoint the two pickups made a U-turn across the road median and headed back towards Mae Suay district.
Police chased them and came upon one of the pickups overturned on the roadside at Moo 1 village in tambon Mae Prik. The driver had fled, leaving behind 31 bags containing 5,999,000 meth pills, police said.
The other vehicle was later intercepted by Mae Suay police on the Tha Ko - Wiang Pa Pao road. The driver was arrested.
From Oct 1 last year to Sept 25, Provincial Police Region 5 has arrested 25,739 drug suspects in 28,875 cases and seized 178.8 million meth pills, 1.2 kilogrammes of crystal meth, 28.3kg of heroin, 195kg of opium and 151kg of ketamine, and impounded drug-related assets worth about 636 million baht in total, Pol Lt Gen Piya said.