Two Hmong Men Busted in Chiang Rai Transporting 400 Kilo’s of Crystal Meth

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CHAING RAI – Deputy Police Chief Somkiat Srivorakhan said at a press conference that two hill-tribe men of the Hmong origin were arrested with a large quantity of crystal methamphetamine, 400 kilograms in total, at a checkpoint in Mae Suay district of Chiang Rai province late on Sunday night.

Gen Somkiat said two Isuzu pick-up trucks driven by brothers — Nirandorn Raothao, 29, and Santi Raothao, 23, were stopped for a search at a checkpoint on Highway 118 (between Chiang Rai – Chiang Mai) in Tambon Thako of Chiang Rai’s Mae Suay district.

Sixteen bags containing a total of 400kg of crystal methamphetamine, with a street value of about 1,000 million baht, were found in the two vehicles.

The two Hmong suspects said they were hired for 200,000 baht to deliver the crystal methamphetamine to a fresh market in Chiang Mai town, where they would put the drug in boxes and cover them with fruits and vegetables before proceeding with the delivery to the South, where the drug would be further smuggled into a third country.

Pol Gen Somkiat said that a few months earlier police arrested Prapan Raothao, the elder brother of the two suspects, with nearly 100,000 methamphetamine pills.