CHIANG RAI – The Region 5 police chief joined forces with military, administrative officials and the Region 5 branch of the Office of Narcotics Control Board to announce a major drug bust in Chiang Rai, involving five separate cases.
Officers seized a total of 6.9 million methamphetamine pills. Over the past nine months, Region 5 Provincial Police have handled over 18,000 drug-related cases, confiscating more than 194 million meth pills and assets worth over 727 million baht.
Police Lieutenant General Kritthaphon Yisakhon, chief of Region 5 Provincial Police, held a press conference alongside representatives from the army, local government and the Office of Narcotics Control Board.
They shared updates on five significant drug cases, all in Chiang Rai, where a total of 6.9 million meth pills were seized.
The first case happened on 14 July. Police from Mae Sai station in Chiang Rai, working with other agencies, arrested two suspects with 1.2 million meth pills.
Officers received a tip about a group moving drugs from the border area of Mae Sai to distribute further inside the country, using back roads. The information moved up the chain of command. Officers were then ordered to set up checkpoints in the Huai Khrai and Pong Ngam areas.
That night, around 8:30 pm, officers at these checkpoints noticed a blue Honda Wave motorcycle without a licence plate circling near the Ban Pong junction before heading toward Ban Pa Bong Ngam.
Shortly after, a private car followed. When both the bike and car neared the checkpoint, they tried to turn back. Police stopped the vehicles and searched the car, finding 1.2 million meth pills in six coloured sacks. Both suspects and the drugs were handed over to investigators.
In the second case, police from Chiang Rai city station, working with partner agencies, seized another 600,000 meth pills. Officers had been tipped off that a drug network was moving pills into the country using logistics services in Rim Kok and Ban Du, Chiang Rai city. The team reported this and was ordered to investigate.
On 15 July, around 4 pm, officers visited the Flash Express parcel distribution centre in Ban San Tan Luang, Rim Kok, to check suspicious packages. With staff as witnesses, they opened four boxes addressed to Songkhla province.
Inside all four boxes, they found 600,000 meth pills. Staff said these boxes came from the Flash Express branch in Ban Du and had been sent from that branch three times before.
When asked, the Ban Du staff explained someone else had dropped them off. The pills were confiscated and delivered to the police for further action.
The third case involves police from Ban Du station in Chiang Rai, working with others, who caught two suspects with 600,000 meth pills at a parcel shop in Ban Pa Faek, Ban Du, Chiang Rai city, on 16 July.
This operation followed the earlier seizure of 600,000 pills at the Flash Express distribution centre on 15 July. Investigators learned from a tip that the same group was planning to send more drugs from the same parcel branch, using a grey Toyota seven-seater with no plate information.
Police followed up and were later alerted by officers from Border Patrol Police 327 that suspects would deliver drugs to that parcel shop. The teams liaised and made the arrest.
