Army Rangers Seize Small Cache of Drugs and Fire Arms after Firefight in Mae Sai District

The initial firefight, which involved about 10 members of a drug caravan, took place on Sunday. Police later apprehended three men with gunshot wounds at a local hospital the early Monday morning.

Late Sunday night, a team from the 3108th rangers company detected movement of drug caravans in a stakeout at a border crossing in Mae Sai district. The men, likely belonging to hill-tribes across the border, then opened fire when told to stop.

The rangers returned fire in a five-minute firefight, before the smugglers withdrew into the forest. The Army Rangers waited until early dawn to clear the area and found the smugglers has left approximately 4,000 tablets of yaba at the scene along with an assault rifle and a sawed off shotgun.

In another operation yesterday morning, soldiers and police jointly arrested a man at Tachilek checkpoint who had in his possession a 380-gram bar of heroin. There are no details about the identity or nationality of the suspect, who is now in custody of Mae Sai police in Thailand.