Narcotics suppression police say they seized about 16 million speed pills, 27 kilogrammes of heroin and assets worth about 105 million baht in four major drug cases in December, with six suspects arrested.
Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet, a deputy national police chief, made the disclosure at a media briefing on Thursday at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), where large quantities of seized drugs were displayed.
In the first case, he said, NSB officers seized about 500,000 speed pills abandoned by drug smugglers in Muang district of Chiang Rai. Officers posing as couriers went to a village to pick up drugs from some smugglers for delivery to a dealer in the Central Plains. But the smugglers fled and abandoned the drugs after realising it was a sting.
In the second case, police arrested two suspects and seized 8.6 million speed pills and 27 kilogrammes of heroin hidden in the bed of their truck at a heckpoint in Sikhiu district of Nakhon Ratchasima. The drugs, smuggled from Nakhon Phanom in the Northeast, were destined for Saraburi, said Pol Gen Kitrat.
Heavily armed police stand behind large quantities of seized drugs during a press conference on Thursday. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
In the third case, two couriers were arrested at a checkpoint in Nakhon Sawan after officers stopped their pickup and found more than 6 million speed pills hidden inside.
Police had been tailing the vehicle after learning it was carrying drugs from a northern border area to Nakhon Sawan. The officers coordinated with officials manning the checkpoint to stop the pickup.
During questioning, the two suspects confessed they had been hired to smuggle the drugs from Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai.
In the fourth case, police arrested two members of a transnational gang in Nakhon Si Thammarat and seized 850kg of ketamine from their pickup.
The network is reportedly operated by a man identified only as Anan, who has been linked to other transnational drug smuggling cases, including the seizure of 960kg of crystal methamphetamine at a house in Ratchaburi. The drugs were destined for the South, said Pol Gen Kitrat.