21kg 'ice' in packages labelled Chinese tea

NAKHON PHANOM: An army patrol seized 21 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine packaged as Chinese tea from the bank of the Mekong River, and arrested one suspect, in That Phanom district.

A patrol from the Surasak Montree Task Force, led by Capt Thanachote Na Nakhon, lay in wait on the riverbank at Ban Nakham in tambon Nam Ko on Sunday night on information that a delivery of drugs would be made there, smuggled across the river from Laos.

Late in the night, a man later identified as Sompit Bamrungwong, 55, a labourer from Mukdahan, arrived in a Toyota Rivo pickup to collect a big bag that had been left on the bank.

He was detained. The bag contained 21 packages labelled as Kwan Yin Wang brand Chinese tea. The packages contained crystal methamphetamine, or ice, and each weighed about 1kg.

Mr Sompit allegedly confessed he was being paid 5,000 baht to deliver the crystal meth to a storage area in Mukdahan. From there it would distributed to inner provinces.

He was initially charged with drug smuggling. The pickup was impounded for examination.