The Pha Muang Task Force has killed nine drug runners and seized approximately one million methamphetamine tablets in Northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai Province.
Eight suspected drug smugglers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with soldiers along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai late Friday night.
Soldiers on patrol in the border area in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai were following a tip-off that a drug syndicate would be attempting to smuggle drugs from Myanmar.
About 10 people were spotted later walking along a path on a mountain ridge in Lisae village, Tambon Mae Fa Luang. They were armed and carrying backpacks.
Soldiers approached the men and ordered them to stop for a search. However, the drug runners opened fire, prompting the soldiers to fire back. They exchanged gunfire for about 15 minutes.
Around dawn, they found 12 abandoned backpacks containing approximately one million speed pills. Nine men were found dead.
Assets Seized in Chiang Rai
Meanwhile, drug suppression police have seized assets worth 1.2 million baht in Chiang Rai province; a car, a house, and a gun worth 8.1 million baht in Bangkok.
Three companies, a restaurant, a rubber plantation, two shops, and two houses valued at 62 million baht in Phuket; and three cars, three motorcycles, two land plots, two houses, a housing estate, and six backhoes valued at 42.11 million baht in Narathiwat, Pol Gen Montree Yimyam, special advisor to the Royal Thai Police Office told CTN News.
Ne said the asset seizure resulted from an investigation into a drug syndicate after the arrest of two drug traffickers in October 2021.
According to Pol Gen Montree, the drug network was extensive, the money was used for many assets, and more accomplices were being sought.