Chiang Rai News
Pha Muang Task Force Recovers Drugs Abandoned by Drug Runners in Mae Sai
One million speed pills abandoned along the Mae Sai River are displayed at a police briefing in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai on Saturday. Photo Chinpat Chaimon
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CHIANG RAI – Col Kidakorn Chantra, commander of the Pha Muang task force has reported drug traffickers abandoned one million speed pills beside the Mae Sai River and swam back to Myanmar after being spotted by a military patrol late Friday night.
The Pha Muang task force spotted five men crossing the river to the Thai side at Wiang Hom village in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai at 10.30pm on Friday and signalled them to stop for a search.
The men, each carrying a packsack, refused to comply. Instead they ditched their packksacks, jumped into the river and swam back.
Each packsack contained 200,000 speed pills, or one million tablets in total. The seized drugs were displayed at a media briefing on Saturday after being handed over to the Mae Sai police station.
Col Kidakorn Chantra, commander of the Pha Muang task force, said large quantities of illicit drugs were still being smuggled into the country because of high demand. The task force plans to increase patrols along the border to prevent the influx of narcotics.
Meanwhile, Thai army officials are also seeking cooperation with their counterparts through the ThailandMyanmar Border Township Committee (TBC) to find Three women allegedly involved in the murder and dismembering of a 22-year-old karaoke bar worker in northeastern Thailand have fled to an autonomous region in Burma that local authorities claim is difficult to access, while the Mae Sai police station are also working with police in Tachileik, a border town in eastern Burma’s Shan State.
Kawita “Earn” Ratchada, 25, Preeyanuch “Preaw” Nonwangchai, 24, and Apiwan “Jae” Sattayabundit, 28 are hiding in Myanmar
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Reports claims they may have holed up in an area under the influence of the United Wa State Army, also known as the Red Wa, or the Lahu militia group, which are major suppliers of illicit drugs.
The murder of Warisara Klinjui, whose body parts were retrieved from a makeshift grave in Khon Kaen’s Khao Suan Kwang district on 25 May, has drawn much public attention.
Preeyanuch “Preaw” Nonwangchai, 24, Kawita “Earn” Ratchada, 25, and Apiwan “Jae” Sattayabundit, 28, are now wanted on charges of premeditated murder and concealing a body. But the trio immediately fled to Burma based on immigration records at a checkpoint in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district the day the body was found.
By Chinpat Chaimon
