CHIANG RAI – Investigators from Chiang Saen Police Station arrested two Shan hilltribe men accused of trafficking more than 8 million methamphetamine pills along the Mekong border.
The pair tried to speed through a checkpoint, abandoned their vehicle in the night, then ran off, but officers caught one suspect right away and tracked down the other a few hours later. They admitted they had been hired by a Myanmar-based financier to drive the drugs to a waiting location.
On Friday, Pol Maj Gen Manop Senakun, Chiang Rai Provincial Police Commander, and Pol Col Anuphan Kantharat, Superintendent of Chiang Saen Police Station, ordered an investigative team to locate and arrest Mr Saengtui, 30, a Shan man living in Wiang subdistrict, Chiang Saen district.
Police had received intelligence that a drug trafficking network planned to move a huge shipment of methamphetamine along border roads close to the Thai-Lao PDR and Thai-Myanmar frontiers, near the Mekong and Ruak rivers in the Golden Triangle area, before sending it further into the country.
Officers went out to patrol and monitor the route until they spotted a grey Mitsubishi Pajero sport utility vehicle with Chiang Mai plates on Highway 1090, running along the border, at about 9.10 pm on Friday.
Since the vehicle matched the description they had been given, officers signalled for it to stop for inspection. Instead, the driver accelerated and drove straight past the Golden Triangle public service point near Ban Sop Ruak, Village 1, Wiang subdistrict, Chiang Saen.
Police followed and soon found the vehicle abandoned on the roadside. Behind the wheel was Mr Saengtui, and with him was Mr Chai, 47, who holds a foreign identification card and also lives in Wiang subdistrict.
As officers approached to search the vehicle, both men suddenly opened the doors and ran off. Police managed to arrest Mr Chai at the scene, but Mr Saengtui escaped into the darkness.
The team then split their forces, some securing the arrested suspect while others searched the vehicle. Inside, they found the seats removed and the cabin packed with 32 straw sacks stacked on top of each other.
When they opened the bags, they discovered they were full of methamphetamine pills, about 250,000 tablets in each sack, for a total of 8,110,000 pills. Officers detained Mr Chai and continued the hunt for his accomplice.
At around 1.40 am on 28 November, police successfully tracked down and arrested Mr Saengtui as well. Both suspects, along with the seized vehicle and all the drugs, were taken to Chiang Saen Police Station and handed over to Pol Lt Col Mongkol Sutenan, Deputy Inspector (Investigation), for legal action and further investigation into the wider network.
In initial questioning, one of the suspects confessed that a Myanmar national known as Mr Hong had contacted them and arranged for them to collect the vehicle used in the crime at a Bangchak petrol station in Ban Ku Tao, Village 3, Yonok subdistrict, Chiang Saen.
From there, they were told to drive to Ban Wang Lao, Village 4, Wiang subdistrict, where the sacks of drugs were loaded into the car. Their job was to take the shipment to another recipient. They claimed they had not yet been told the final drop-off point before police intercepted and arrested them.
