Chiang Rai News
Paramilitary Rangers Seize 2 Million Speed Pills in Phayao Province
PHAYAO — Paramilitary Rangers have Seized more than 2 million speed pills with street value of 500 million baht have been seized along the Thai-Lao border in Phayao Province, the largest haul of illicit drugs ever seized in the northern province, Maj Gen Banjerd Changpoonthong, Third Army deputy chief said during a news conference on Saturday.
A team of paramilitary rangers and forestry officials patrolling the Hua Miang forest in Phu Sang district, about one kilometer from the border, spotted a group of nine men carrying fertilizer sacks at about 5.30pm on Friday.
Maj Gen Banjerd Changpoonthong said that upon seeing the officers, the smugglers fled into a jungle, leaving nine sacks and one backpack behind, with an estimated street value of between 400 million and 500 million baht.
The team found 2.3 million methamphetamine pills hidden in the abandoned sacks. The orange pills, with the letters ‘’WY’’ stamped on them, were believed to belong to a Wa drug trafficking gang.
Maj Gen Banjerd said the drug gang had shifted the smuggling route from Myanmar border areas opposite Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai to Lao border areas opposite Phayao, he added.
The military earlier asked soldiers to increase patrols to stem the inflow of illicit drugs along the border, particularly during long public holidays.