CHIANG RAI — Police arrested a Myanmar man on Phahonyothin Road late at night after he was caught driving a pickup truck loaded with 8 sacks of methamphetamine, holding at least 1.6 million pills. He was heading toward a stash site in Chiang Rai city, waiting for someone to take over the delivery.
The arrest followed tips received by Pol. Maj. Gen. Manop Senakul, the Chiang Rai Provincial Police chief, and Pol. Col. Technique Jansi, Maesai police superintendent, along with their investigative team.
They learned that a drug trafficking group planned to move a large shipment of meth from Maesai near the border into the country’s interior, using Phahonyothin Road—a main route leading to the central region and Bangkok. Officers tracked their movements closely.
Around 9.00 pm on 27 August 2025, police found an Isuzu pickup parked on Phahonyothin Road near Huay Khrai village, Huay Khrai subdistrict of Mae Sai, right at the border with Mae Chan district. They approached the vehicle and found a 33-year-old Myanmar man named Lee Sang inside.
A thorough search uncovered eight large sacks on the rear seat. Each sack held more than 200,000 meth pills, totalling about 1.6 million. Police arrested Lee Sang at the scene. During initial questioning, Lee Sang admitted he was hired to transport the drugs from someone else.
He claimed he was just a courier and planned to hand the drugs over to another party.
On 28 August 2025, Maesai police continued to hold Lee Sang for further questioning, keeping the pickup and over 1.6 million meth pills as evidence while expanding their investigation in line with legal procedures.
Bust Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai
In a separate case, a dramatic chase occurred near the border in Mae Fa Luang when a group smuggling motorcycles full of methamphetamine and heroin was spotted at dawn.
The suspects appeared to be moving drugs into Chiang Rai city for storage. Rangers on patrol tried to intercept the convoy. The riders sped off, abandoning two motorbikes while escaping into the forest; one managed to get away.
On 27 August 2025, rangers from patrol unit 3106 (Task Force 31, Pha Muang Force) received a tip that drug traffickers planned to carry a big load from the Thai-Myanmar border at Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai, using mountain routes toward a stash site in Mueang Chiang Rai.
Officers set up along the route from Baan Kiew Satai, Pa Tung subdistrict of Mae Chan, toward Baan Adi, Mae Yao subdistrict in the city area.
At roughly 5.20 am, they found three motorcycles weaving through the forest trail. When the drivers noticed the rangers, they sped up to escape. Rangers managed to halt two bikes heading to Baan Adi, but the riders left the bikes and vanished into the trees. The third motorcycle rider used the darkness to get away.
A search of the two seized motorcycles—one blue Honda Wave 100i registered in Chiang Rai, the other, the same model in orange and black—found that each was carrying three woven sacks. Across the two bikes, six sacks were recovered.
Inside four sacks, rangers found about 150,000 meth pills per sack, amounting to 600,000 pills. The other two sacks held cardboard boxes containing heroin—18 bags in the first, two in the second—making a total of 20 heroin parcels. Rangers secured all drugs as evidence and launched further searches to catch the fleeing suspects.
