CHIANG RAI – Soldiers from the Pha Muang Force uncovered a major meth stash in a banana grove in the Kiw Sai Tai area of Chiang Rai. They uncovered ten large sacks containing about two million methamphetamine pills.
On June 3, Narcotics Suppression officials and the Pha Muang Force received information about a drug shipment being moved across the Thai-Myanmar border near Mae Fa Luang District, Chiang Rai. The plan was for the drugs to move through Mae Chan District and then be stored in Mae Yao before heading further inside the country.
Soldiers set up checkpoints along key routes, including the roads between Kiw Sai Tai, Pa Tung, and Mae Yao, and also watched the route from Mae Fa Luang to Ban Lao Fu. Their suspicions grew when they saw a motorbike making several unusual trips in and out of the agricultural area near Kiw Sai Tai.
Around 8:50 p.m., soldiers went into the banana grove and found the black plastic bags covered with old banana leaves. Inside each sack were roughly 200,000 meth pills. In total, the haul came to two million pills.
Soldiers collected the evidence and kept watch through the night, hoping to catch members of the trafficking group.
On June 4, Col. Maitri Srisantia from the Pha Muang Force visited the site to inspect the evidence and follow up on leads to track down those behind the drug operation. He said they will work with local authorities to bring the network to justice.
Chiang Rai Province, located in northern Thailand within the notorious Golden Triangle, has long been a hotspot for drug trafficking due to its proximity to Myanmar and Laos, major sources of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine.
Recent reports from 2024 and 2025 highlight a surge in smuggling activities, particularly involving meth pills (yaba), crystal meth (ya ice), heroin, and ketamine. Authorities, including the Pha Muang Task Force, Narcotics Suppression Police, and Thai Navy, have intensified efforts to combat these operations through intelligence-led operations, increased border security.
