CHIANG RAI – Police have arrested three people after seizing about 1,000,000 methamphetamine tablets (ya ba) and around 1 kilogram of crystal meth (ice). Officers believe the drugs were about to be sent by coach from Chiang Rai to the central region, including Bangkok.
The arrests were announced on December 27th by officers from Chiang Rai City Police Station. The suspects were named as a man and a woman from Phetchabun, along with another man from Mae Suai district in Chiang Rai.
Police patrol officers were checking buses at Passenger Terminal 2 in Chiang Rai (San Sai, Mueang Chiang Rai) during routine inspections of services heading from Chiang Rai to central Thailand. They noticed a saloon car pull up and drop off several passengers along with two suitcases, just as a coach was preparing to depart. The situation looked suspicious, so officers stepped in.
When Chiang Rai police examined the suitcases, they found they were unusually heavy and not easy to open. The two bag owners, identified as the man and woman from Phetchabun, were asked to open them. Inside, officers found about 400,000 ya ba tablets and around 1 kilogram of ice.
After detaining the pair and questioning them, police learned the driver who had dropped them off had already left. Officers then tracked the saloon car and stopped it near the Den Ha community area in Chiang Rai municipality. The driver was identified as the third suspect, a man from Mae Suai.
Chiang Rai police then searched a rented house in Rob Wiang sub-district, Mueang Chiang Rai, linked to the suspect. There, they found an additional 600,000 ya ba tablets, bringing the total haul to about 1 million tablets, plus the 1 kilogram of ice seized earlier.
All three suspects were handed over to investigators to face charges under Thai law. Police said early enquiries suggest the drugs were moved from an area near the Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai.
