CHIANG RAI: Five armed drug smugglers were killed in a clash with soldiers in Mae Sai district on the border with Myanmar early on Thursday.
Maj Gen Suparerk Sathapornpol, commander of the army's Pha Muang Force, said a ranger patrol from the 2nd Army's operations centre at 1.30 am spotted eight armed men with backpacks walking through a forest of Doi Tung heading to Mu Ban Huai Khrai Mai in the district.
The officers told them to stop for a search, but they refused to follow the order and started shooting, which prompted the soldiers to return fire. The ensuing gunfight lasted about five minutes, Maj Gen Suparerk said.
No soldiers were injured.
After the shooting stopped, the soldiers scoured the area and found the bodies of five men who had been killed in the clash. They also found and seized five backpacks containing a total of 500,000 methamphetamine pills, he said.
Maj Gen Suparerk said the drugs came from Ban Pha Khao of the Lahu people, located in Myanmar opposite Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai.
The clash is the third such incident to have occurred in the North recently, with the earlier two occurring in Chiang Mai's Fang district. Six drug smugglers were killed, and 300 kilogrammes of ketamine were seized on Jan 9. Another group of 15 drug traffickers were killed in December, and 29 sacks of crystal methamphetamine were seized.
Meanwhile, marines from the navy's Mekong Riverine Unit seized 300 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine in the northeastern province of Nong Khai yesterday.
Thanakorn Ritjoho, unit chief, said they received a tip-off about a drug smuggling operation that led to the seizure but did not result in the capture of any suspects.