Two fleeing drug suspects were arrested in Chiang Dao district of Chiang Mai early on Monday following the seizure of 281 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine from the pickup truck they abandoned during a police chase in Fang district on Sunday night.
Police arrested Keng Pingyos, 36, and Nikorn Inchan, 37, both from Dok Kham Tai district of Phayao, at Kaeng Pantao checkpoint in tambon Mae Na of Chiang Dao district around 1.30am on Monday, according to the Northern Border Narcotics Control Operations Centre.
A few hours earlier, police and soldiers had pursued a pickup truck from Huai Mayom village in Fang district to Huai Bon village in the same northern district. The two men in the vehicle abandoned it about 10.20pm and fled in another pickup.
The chase team searched the abandoned vehicle and found 281 packages of crystal meth, each about 1 kilogramme, inside 17 rucksacks and a fertiliser sack.
An alert was issued and a black pickup truck with Phayao licence plates was stopped at Kaeng Pantao checkpoint in tambon Mae Na around 1.30am on Monday. The two men in it were arrested.
According to the operations centre, during questioning the suspects admitted to fleeing the abandoned pickup found loaded with drugs.
They were handed over to narcotics suppression police for legal action.
A source said the seized crystal meth would be worth more than one billion baht on the foreign black market.