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Thai Police Seize 3.5 Tons of Marijuana Destined for UK
Thai police have seized more than 3,000kg of marijuana which was packed up in hundreds of boxes destined for the UK
CHIANGRAI TIMES – Royal Thai Police have seized the Kingdom’s biggest-ever haul of marijuana, weighing about three.45 tonnes, at a house in Saraburi. Officials estimated it to be worth about Bt51 million.
The marijuana was packaged in boxes with a CKR Services’ warehouse address in Galleon Boulevard, Dartford, Kent.
Police chief Maj-General Chalit Preechaharn said Nipon confessed that they had been paid Bt100,000 to deliver the drug to the Bangkok Port, from where it was to be sent to an abroad location.
The packages were marked to be posted to haulage firm CKR Services' warehouse address in Galleon Boulevard, Dartford, Kent
Police arrested Nipon “Yap” Mopad, 43, for possession of the forbidden drug. His arrest was announced at a press conference.
The suspect has implicated other men, Chalit said. However, these accomplices were identified only as “Tos” and “Tong”. Nipon’s pickup van and gun were seized and his bank accounts frozen, the officer said.
“He has done it a few times before. They said the forbidden drug came from the Northeast,” Chalit said.
At the same press conference, Highway Police Commander Maj-General Noraboon Naenna said Saraburi Highway Police officers intercepted a pickup van on Phaholyothin Road in Saraburi’s Nong Khae district yesterday morning and found 648 kilograms of marijuana bars in the vehicle.
“We will inquire in to the case further,” Chalit said.
According to Noraboon, the suspect later confessed that they had picked up the forbidden drug from Amorn Khamlah at a Tesco Lotus outlet in Nakhon Phanom and was preparing to take it to the Min Buri market in Bangkok. Achariya said they was paid Bt35,000 per delivery.
“The pickup driver, Achariya Pomyukon, tried to run away the scene, but the Highway Police officers managed to arrest him,” Noraboon said.
Meanwhile, Corrections Department director-general Suchat Wong-ananchai announced that his department had found 60,000 methamphetamine tablets, 9,513 cell rings, and five,834 SIM cards in prisons across the country in the coursework of the past six months.
“We have dismissed 28 jail officials for allowing these banned items in the correctional facilities,” Suchat said.
Sources said that apart from the assistance gained from corrupt jail officials, rich inmates had received outside help from people in their circles, including engineers who had been assigned to complete tasks inside the prisons, and gang members who married local ladies so their wives could gain simple access to the correctional facilities – Anna Wong
