Chiang Rai News
Pha Muang Task Force Guns Down Five Drug Runners in Chiang Rai’s Mae Pha Luang District
A soldier of the Pha Muang Task Force points at bags of methamphetamine pills left by traffickers after a clash on Sunday. – Photo RTA
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CHIANG RAI – Soldiers from the Pha Muang Task Force have shot and killed five drug traffickers after a clash with soldiers manning the border of Chiang Rai Province on Sunday.
Soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force who have been maintaining an increased surveillance along the border with Myanmar in Mae Pha Luang district after a tip-off that a large cache of methamphetamine pills was going to be transported across the Thai border, the Third Region Army reported.
The task force found five dead bodies and 19 makeshift backpacks made from plastic, each containing 100,000 “yaba” pills.- Photo Phathinya Srisupamart
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At approximately 5am on Sunday morning, soldiers spotted approximately 20 men carrying plastic sacks and weapons about 700 meters inside the Thai-Myanmar border.
Soldiers summoned the drug runners to stop but they instead immediately opened fire on the Pha Muang Task Force soldiers.
The firefight lasted about 10 minutes after which soldiers found the bodies of five drug runners and 19 plastic sacks containing 1.9 million meth pills abandoned at the scene.
The remaining drug runners escaped into the cover of the nearby forest.
