CHIANG RAI – The Pha Muang Task Force has released new figures showing a significant rise in drug seizures in northern border areas of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai before the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
The unit reported 53 armed clashes with trafficking groups and 34 suspects killed. Drugs seized included methamphetamine, heroin, ice, opium, and ketamine, with an estimated street value of at least 36 billion baht. These efforts stopped the drugs before they could reach Thailand’s economy.
From 1 October 2023 to the present, just before the fiscal year wraps up in September 2024, the Pha Muang Task Force recorded 328 separate operations to block narcotics from crossing the northern borders of Thailand.
Officers arrested 457 suspects in total. Seized items included over 175 million methamphetamine pills, 158.7 kilograms of heroin, 8,892 kilograms of crystal meth, 97 kilograms of opium, and 696 kilograms of ketamine. Out of the 53 armed encounters, 34 traffickers died.
If this amount of drugs had made it to Bangkok, it would have caused economic damage valued at over 36 billion baht.
In a recent incident, the 2nd Cavalry Company, part of the Chao Tak Task Force, patrolled the Thailand-Myanmar border near Pa Mi village, Wiang Phang Kham, Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai. On the night of 8 September, soldiers spotted a group of 8 to 10 people carrying large backpacks moving through the rough border terrain.
When soldiers tried to search the group, the suspects opened fire with unidentified weapons, leading to a five-minute firefight. No soldiers were hurt. After securing the scene, the unit sent two teams to sweep the area the following morning, but found no suspects.
Checking the modified sacks left at the site, authorities discovered 10 bags of methamphetamine, each with about 200,000 pills, totalling roughly 2 million pills.
Col. Kitti Najai, deputy commander of the Chao Tak Task Force, visited the scene with officials after being assigned by Major General Kidakorn Chantra, head of the Pha Muang Task Force and director of its narcotics control centre. They organized the delivery of the seized drugs to the Mae Sai police for standard legal procedures.
Initial investigation suggests the traffickers took advantage of ongoing tensions along the Thai-Cambodian border, expecting security resources to shift to the northeast. This situation led them to increase smuggling attempts in the north.
Major General Kidakorn instructed all units to tighten enforcement and stick to aggressive drug suppression in these areas.
