BURI RAM: Two minors have been arrested in this northeastern province on suspicion of selling illicit drugs, raising fears that more young people are becoming drug dealers.
Authorities from the police, military and Department of Provincial Administration on Sunday arrested a 16- and a 17-year-old accused of selling drugs in tambon Isan of the province's Muang district.
The minors admitted they were delivering ya ba (a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine) pills on the orders of an older dealer who fled to Laos to escape drug charges, authorities said.
The two also led the authorities to a hideout, where 122,500 yaba pills were found.
The suspects were sent to the Buri Ram Provincial Police's office for further interrogation before being transferred to Muang Buri Ram provincial police station for legal proceedings.
The news followed the arrest of five vocational school students on Saturday who were allegedly involved in a drug dealing operation in the northeastern province.
In that case, authorities from Buri Ram Provincial Police, Border Patrol Police, the military and Buri Ram's Department of Provincial Administration arrested five students aged between 19 and 20 and seized about 82,000 meth pills.
Agents found the five had been selling meth pills on the orders of an older person who had escaped to Laos, police said.
These students and the two minors who were arrested on Sunday were believed to belong to the same drug network.