Thai Navy Seizes Huge Haul of Drugs on the Mekong River

The Thai Navy Mekong River Unit has seized one ton of high-grade marijuana and more than 200 kilograms of crystal meth in two separate operations along the Mekong River in the early hours of Saturday.

In a first operation, a patrol team of the Mekong River Unit arrested two men for attempting to smuggle 480 compressed bars of high-grade marijuana and 219kg of crystal meth.

The men were arrested as they boarded a long-tailed boat to bring the drugs from Laos to a riverbank in Nakhon Phanom on Saturday, the arresting team reported.

Representatives from security and drug-suppression agencies, as well as Nakhon Phanom governor Chathip Rujanaseri, attended the briefing.

According to authorities, marijuana could fetch up to 20,000 baht a kilogram, while crystal meth could fetch up to 300,000 baht a kilogram.

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A second Mekong River patrol team also found 520 bars of compressed marijuana, weighing 520kg in total, on the banks of the Mekong River in Tambon Woen Prabat in the same district. A Thai man was arrested for drug smuggling.

There was almost 100 million baht worth of drugs seized in the two cases.

This northeastern province has been the source of a lot of illicit drugs smuggled into the country during the Covid-19 outbreak. According to senior officers during the media briefing, the drugs were headed for Southern Thailand, then Malaysia.

Since the beginning of the week, more than five tons of high-grade marijuana has been seized in Northeastern Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom province.