CHIANG RAI – Soldiers from the Pha Muang Task Force patrolling the border in Mai Fa Luang district, an area known to be home to the Lahu people from Myanmar, seized over 4 million methamphetamine pills after a firefight with drug runners.

In the early hours on Tuesday morning, Soldiers from the Taskforce Jaotaak and the Pha Muang Force spotted a group of about 15 to 20 people carrying sacks as they moved along a rugged mountain trail into Thai territory.

The soldiers signalled for an inspection, but the group opened fire with unknown guns, sparking a firefight that lasted close to five minutes. All soldiers remained safe, while the group escaped back into the woods.

Fleeing into the darkness, they left behind 15 sacks scattered through the forest, each one packed with roughly 200,000 meth pills. In total, the soldiers recovered 4,298,000 methamphetamine tablets, which they secured as evidence.

The Mai Fa Luang Police and other involved agencies were contacted to help with the investigation and to tighten security around the area.

Pha Muang Task Force Operations

Pha Muang Soldiers Combating Drug Smuggling

The Pha Muang Task Force, part of the Royal Thai Army, dishes out strong action against drug smuggling in Chiang Rai. This border province sits at a crossroad, where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet.

It serves as a key entry for illegal drugs coming from the Golden Triangle, with Myanmar’s Shan State leading in methamphetamine output and other drugs like heroin, opium, and ketamine making their way across the border.

Task Force operations break up major trafficking routes, disrupt organized crime, and help keep the local region stable. In 2024 and into early 2025, they made some of their biggest drug busts yet, showing both the scale of the problem and their clear focus on keeping the border safe.

The soldiers cover tough ground, moving through jungles that are thick with forest and difficult hills. They rely on intelligence-led missions, regular patrols, and new tech to stop smugglers. Drug traffickers take advantage of hidden trails and loose border checks, bringing in drugs on foot, in altered cars, or even with drones.

The Task Force stays active round-the-clock, using CCTV, motion detectors, and X-ray scanners to find drugs concealed in unexpected places. They also work with local police, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, and international agencies like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to share tips and run joint operations.

Pha Muang Task Force Operations

Recent actions highlight how busy and effective the Pha Muang Task Force is. Between October last year and September, they ran 328 operations, seizing more than 175 million meth pills, 158.7 kilograms of heroin, nearly 9 tonnes of crystal meth, 97 kilograms of opium, and almost 700 kilograms of ketamine. These drugs together would have fetched around 36 billion baht on the street.

Their efforts led to 457 arrests and 53 armed confrontations, with 34 suspected smugglers killed. One headline grabber happened on 9 September 2025 in Mae Sai, where soldiers confiscated over 2 million meth pills after a firefight near Ban Pha Mee. A separate raid on 11 September 2025 in Doi Mae Salong stopped a drug caravan, with troops finding huge stashes of pills after the traffickers ran.

However, trafficking networks keep shifting their tactics. As Chiang Rai’s border gets tighter, smugglers sneak through new routes in Chiang Mai or cross into Laos. Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, drug production in Shan State has surged, and ethnic armed groups use drug profits to fuel local fighting.

The Task Force, under the command of Maj Gen Kidakorn Chantra, keeps up strong border checks through the “Seal Stop Safe” approach, which also encourages local people to tip off authorities about suspicious movements using hotlines.

While big drug hauls show some progress, UNODC figures reveal that 236 tonnes of methamphetamine seized across the region in 2024 only scratches the surface of what actually moves through.

Still, the Pha Muang Task Force puts pressure on traffickers, stops drugs from flooding Thailand’s northern border, and helps limit the reach of the Golden Triangle’s drug networks.