KHON KAEN: Two men were arrested with 998,000 methamphetamine pills on the bank of the Mekong river in Muang district of Nong Khai province in the small hours on Saturday, police said on Monday.
Pol Lt Gen Banyong Vej-osoth, the Provincial Police Region 2 commissioner, said the suspects and drugs were seized on the riverbank at Hat Kham Noi village in tambon Hat Kham.
Late on Friday night, police were deployed in the area after a tipoff that a large quantity of drugs would be smuggled across the river from Laos.
In the early hours of Saturday, a boat arrived from Laos and left three sacks on the riverbank. Men carried the three sacks to a Toyota Vigo pickup parked on the road nearby. That was when the police showed up for a search.
Two men waiting in the pickup were arrested. They were Pongpol Jitthai, 22, and Supawat Duangkhan, 25, both from Chaturaphak Phiman district, Roi Et province. However, the men who carried the sacks from the riverbank fled into the darkness.
The three sacks contained 998,000 meth pills branded Y-1. The drugs were seized and the pickup impounded for examination.
The two suspects allegedly confessed they were to be paid 30,000 baht to deliver the meth to buyers in Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakham, Loei, Roi Et and Nong Bua Lamphu provinces.