Chiang Rai News
Chiang Rai Narcotics Suppression Police Nab Drug Runner With 4 Million Meth Pills in Mae Sai District
CHIANG RAI – A 27 year-old Thai man was arrested on Monday night in Chiang Rai with four million methamphetamine pills he is alleged to have smuggled from the Thai-Myanmar border area.
Acting on a tip-off at 9.20pm, Chiang Rai-based narcotics suppression police spotted a pick-up truck parked at a shop-house on Phaholyothin road in Moo 4 village, Wiang Pha Kham tambon, Mae Sai district.
Police found Mae Saruay district resident Surachai Bese, 27, hanging around near the pickup. Police asked Surachai to lift the tarpaulin in the truck bed and under it they found 25 bags containing the drugs.
Surachai was taken to the Chiang Rai narcotics suppression office for questioning. Police are seeking to identify the drug boss who hired him to smuggle the meth through the border.
Meanwhile, The Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) yesterday announced that it had managed to prevent 300 million methamphetamine pills from flowing into the country in the final quarter of last year.
ONCB secretary-general Niyom Termsrisuk said the agency had also worked with its counterparts in Myanmar, Laos and China to form operational teams of more than 1,000 officials and together they had blocked the flow of 2 million tonnes of precursor chemicals from being smuggled into the Golden Triangle region for the production of the drug during that period.
The precursor chemicals could have been used to produce 30 million meth pills, he added.