Police have seized more than 1.14 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine, aka ya ice, in three separate smuggling cases in the South, North and Central regions.
The first case was in the South, where Narcotics Suppression Division 4 and the Narcotics Intelligence Division arrested a 27-year-old man, only identified as Arkhom and two women -- Maam, 32, and Chayada, 35.
Police were informed by sources that three pickup trucks loaded with vegetables from the Central region, and carrying crystal meth, were heading to the South. Police first arrested Arkhom at a petrol station in Phatthalung and later caught the other two suspects driving two pickups on road No.41 in Surat Thani's Chaiya district. Police seized a total of 688 kilogrammes of crystal meth, their pickup trucks and three mobile phones.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chinapat Sarasin said the three suspects planned to smuggle the drug to a neighbouring country. After the arrests, Narcotics Suppression Division 4 worked with Metropolitan Police Division 7 and the armed forces security centre to expand the investigation. The officers later arrested another four members of the drug network that were selling narcotics via the Line app in Central provinces.
The second case was in the North, with police arresting a 25-year-old man named Taweechai in a car park of a Big C hypermarket in Chiang Rai's Muang district recently. Police discovered about 300kg of crystal meth inside ten sacks of tea packages on the passenger seats of his black Mazda pickup truck.
The third case occurred in Nakhon Sawan, where Narcotic Suppression Division 3 and Army Military Intelligence Command stopped and searched a Toyota Wish car driven by a woman identified as Pakaorn, 43, on Highway 117.
Police seized 84kg of crystal meth and arrested the woman, who said she was hired by someone using the Line ID "Fah Lang Fon". Police later arrested another suspect named Kanokthach, 35, in Pathum Thani.