CHIANG RAI -Border police intercepted two major methamphetamine shipments, seizing almost 3 million pills. In one case, traffickers hid the drugs in a car and tried to blend in with tourists out enjoying the cool season. In the other, officers found a huge haul inside a vehicle parked near a central wholesale market.
On 22 November, officers from Mae Chan Police Station in Chiang Rai, Border Patrol Police Company 327, and a military K9 unit from the Pha Muang Task Force were carrying out routine checks on vehicles along Phahonyothin Road.
The operation took place at the Kiw Thap Yang checkpoint in Pong Tong village, Moo 5, Mae Chan subdistrict, Mae Chan district, during the busy winter tourist period when traffic is heavier than usual.
Officers later noticed a gold Honda Accord with Bangkok plates driving from Mae Chan towards Mueang Chiang Rai. The driver behaved in a suspicious way, so they flagged the car down for inspection.
The driver was identified as Mr Thawip, 50, from Wang Phong subdistrict, Pran Buri district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. He was travelling alone, which raised doubts among officers, as he claimed to be on a solo winter holiday in Chiang Rai. Police asked for permission to carry out a detailed search of the vehicle.
When they opened the boot, they found large brick-shaped packages wrapped in waxed paper. Inside was methamphetamine, a category 1 narcotic. In total, officers counted around 100 large bundles, amounting to roughly 1,000,000 pills. Mr Thawip was arrested on the spot.
At the same time, a rapid response unit from the Thap Chao Tak special task force under the Pha Muang Task Force, working with military intelligence and narcotics suppression officers from NPS Chiang Rai (Division 2, Narcotics Suppression Bureau 3), also intercepted a separate major shipment of methamphetamine.
On the night of November 21, 2025, officers received intelligence that a trafficking network planned to move a large batch of methamphetamine from the border area of Chiang Rai province to a drug network operating at an agricultural wholesale market in Tha Sai subdistrict, Mueang Chiang Rai district.
When the team reached the exit of the market, they spotted a suspicious car with a man standing nearby. Officers approached, searched the vehicle, and found 10 fertiliser sacks inside. Nine sacks each contained about 200,000 methamphetamine pills, and the tenth held around 198,000 pills. In total, they seized about 1,980,000 pills.
Both suspects, along with all seized drugs, were handed over to investigators for legal action and for further investigation into the wider trafficking networks.
Major Drug Seizures in Chiang Rai, November 2025
Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand, which borders both Myanmar and Laos, remains one of the main gateways for methamphetamine trafficking from the Golden Triangle. So far in November 2025, security forces such as the Pha Muang Task Force and the Chiang Rai Provincial Police reported that the volume of meth tablets seized had risen by 172% compared with the same period in 2023.
Officers link this increase to heavier cross-border smuggling and instability in Myanmar’s Shan State.
Below is a round-up of the biggest drug seizures reported in Chiang Rai in November 2025, based on official statements and local news reports. These cases show the use of unusual hiding methods, such as sofas and thatch grass, and frequent armed clashes along the border.
| Date | Location | Details | Suspects Arrested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 November | Warehouse in Mae Yao Subdistrict, Mueang Chiang Rai District (near Huai Plakang and Ban Nam Lat) | Officers seized 10 million methamphetamine tablets (66 sacks) hidden inside sofas, ready for transport. The case links to a wider network that was broken up in Phrae in June 2025. A car and a motorcycle were also confiscated. | 5 (including Mr Witen Saeyang, 26) | |
| 12 November | Crematorium in Wiang Chiang Rung Subdistrict | Police found 6 million meth tablets in a pickup truck stacked with thatch grass. The vehicle had been abandoned beside the crematorium. The seizure forms part of a series of growing border-related cases. | 0 (driver fled, investigation continues) | |
| 17–18 November | Forest near Ban Cha Ti, Moo 16, Thoet Thai Subdistrict, Mae Fa Luang District (Thai–Myanmar border) | A patrol seized 1.4 million meth pills (7 sacks) after a 10-minute gunfight with smugglers trying to cross in from Myanmar. Security patrols were stepped up after reports of large shipments in the area. | 0 (smugglers escaped, no injuries reported) | |
| 20 November | Huai Nam Rin Village, Moo 7, Wiang Phang Kham Subdistrict, Mae Sai District (Thai–Myanmar border) | Authorities captured 2 million meth tablets after a nighttime clash with a drug caravan. In a separate incident at Mae Sai Hospital car park, officers seized 5 kg of crystal meth (“ice”) from a couple who said they had been hired to courier the drugs by a man known as “Mr Ek”. | 2 (the couple in the crystal meth case; pill couriers fled) |
These incidents fit within wider suppression efforts. From October 2024 to September 2025, the Pha Muang Task Force carried out 328 operations, seizing about 175 million meth pills and 9 tonnes of crystal meth, with an estimated street value of around 36 billion baht.
The surge in November highlights Chiang Rai’s role as a staging and transit area, with drugs often moved on towards central and eastern Thailand. For example, a seizure of 3.64 million tablets in Chonburi on 1 November was traced back to sources in Chiang Rai.
Ongoing challenges: Steep and remote terrain, poverty in ethnic minority communities, and armed trafficking groups make enforcement difficult. Local people live with the fallout, including rising meth addiction. One case on Friday involved officials stepping in to help a four-year-old girl living with her father, who was hooked on meth, in a village near the border.
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Authorities Seize Meth Pills and Crystal Meth in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai
