CHIANG MAI – A team from the Chaiyanuphap Task Force clashed with armed drug couriers near the Chiang Dao border route in the Chiang Mai Mountains. The suspects fired at Thai soldiers during a late-night patrol, and one man was shot dead at the scene.
Soldiers seized two modified rucksacks containing about 400,000 methamphetamine pills.
Maj Gen Satit Waiyannon, commander of the Pha Muang Force, had ordered units to step up crackdowns in line with policy. Trafficking groups have tried to move drugs from a neighbouring country into the Chiang Dao district, then deeper into the country.
On the night of 4 October, a patrol from Cavalry Company 2, Chaiyanuphap Task Force, was monitoring a natural border crossing near Ban Arunothai, Muang Na subdistrict, when they spotted four to five men carrying altered packs.
Soldiers moved in to check them, but the group opened fire with unspecified weapons. The exchange lasted about five minutes. All troops were safe. After securing the area, the team found one suspect dead and recovered two backpack-style sacks filled with Category 1 narcotics (yaba), roughly 400,000 tablets. All seized items were handed to the Na Wai Police Station for legal proceedings.
Pha Muang Task Force Frontline efforts in Northern Thailand
The Pha Muang Task Force, a specialist unit within the Royal Thai Army, leads the fight against cross-border drug trafficking in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Named after an ancient warrior king, the unit patrols more than 933 kilometres of steep, remote ground. Its teams run intelligence-led missions to stop narcotics headed for Thai cities and overseas markets.
Activity surged in 2025 as trafficking increased, driven by turmoil in Myanmar and shifting smuggling pipelines. From January to October, seizures in the two northern provinces showed both the vast scale of the trade and the human toll of stopping it. Drugs worth tens of billions of baht were taken off the market, and several armed clashes left dozens of traffickers dead.
The volume of drugs seized rose sharply, following huge interceptions in late 2024. By March, operations from October 2024 through early 2025 had already removed nearly 20 billion baht in narcotics. The tally included more than 77 million methamphetamine pills (ya ba), over 7 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine (ice), along with heroin, raw opium, and ketamine.
The figures kept rising as the months passed. By September, cumulative seizures across the northern region were estimated at 36 billion baht, around four times the 2023 level. In Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, the task force had carried out more than 300 operations by mid-year, arrested 347 suspects, and disrupted major smuggling networks.
Provincial hotspots
Chiang Rai, which borders the Sai River and sits close to Myanmar’s Shan State, became the main focus of the crackdowns. In the first eight months alone, officers seized over 57 million meth pills, 145 kilograms of heroin (the bulk of the regional total), and more than 8,000 kilograms of crystal meth.
Chiang Mai, a key transit point south of Chiang Rai, saw similar pressure. Authorities confiscated around 55 million meth pills, more than 1,200 kilograms of crystal meth, and large amounts of opium.
Provincial Police Region 5, working closely with Pha Muang units, reported interceptions totalling over 200 million meth pills in the first half of the year. This included 124 million pills, 961 kilograms of crystal meth, 234 kilograms of heroin, 30 kilograms of ketamine, and 203 kilograms of opium. These results highlight the Golden Triangle’s status as a major meth production hub, with Thailand’s northern frontier acting as a primary route for trafficking.
Several Pha Muang Task Force Operations in 2025:
- January 22, Mae Sai Border, Chiang Rai: At dawn, the 4th Cavalry Company clashed with smugglers crossing forested terrain. After a brief exchange of fire, traffickers abandoned four backpacks containing 600,000 meth pills, which were handed to Koh Chang Police for prosecution. Commander Gen. Kittikorn Chantra emphasized the drugs’ intended route to central Thailand.
- March 19, Mae Sai, Chiang Rai: Near Sai Lom Joy Market, soldiers intercepted a group stashing 323 kilograms of crystal meth in a rented property after fording the Sai River. The ensuing firefight left smugglers fleeing, but the haul—valued at millions—disrupted a major pipeline.
- March 25, Border Area, Chiang Mai: Patrolling the Thai-Myanmar frontier, Pha Muang troops engaged couriers in a shootout, seizing four sacks with over 600,000 meth pills. This incident highlighted Chiang Mai’s growing role as an alternative route as Chiang Rai patrols tightened.
- April 19, Mae Ai District, Chiang Mai: Army Rangers ambushed a backpack-carrying group smuggling raw opium from Myanmar. The clash yielded 16 kilograms of the sticky resin, destined for central processing, amid a broader uptick in heroin seizures (327 kilograms regionally in 2024, carrying into 2025).
- June 6, Phabong, Fang District, Chiang Mai: The Fourth Cavalry Company killed one suspect in a border encounter, confiscating three bags with 200,000 meth pills and 21 kilograms of raw opium. This was part of a wave of eight-month operations that neutralized over 112 million meth pills across the north.
- September 9, Ban Pha Mee, Mae Sai, Chiang Rai: In a predawn raid, troops seized 2 million meth pills from 10 modified sacks after a standoff. Deputy Commander Col. Kitti Najai inspected the site, linking it to larger networks from the Golden Triangle.
- September 11, Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai: Soldiers halted a fleeing caravan, recovering 4.3 million meth pills abandoned in the chaos. Two days later, in Mai Fa Luang, a firefight claimed two traffickers’ lives and yielded another 4 million pills.
- September 27, Mae Na Wang, Chiang Mai: Mae Ai Police, tipped off by Pha Muang intelligence, discovered 3 million meth pills in an abandoned, mud-stuck pickup truck near a narcotics checkpoint—evidence of smugglers’ desperate evasion tactics.
- September 28, Broader Chiang Rai-Chiang Mai Sweep: Coordinated raids netted additional millions of pills, with one Mekong River interception by navy allies seizing 6 million from a Lao national near Chiang Saen.
These incidents, often involving abandoned vehicles or hasty retreats into dense jungles, illustrate the cat-and-mouse dynamic: As Pha Muang reinforces one sector, traffickers pivot to Laos crossings or alternate paths in Chiang Mai.
