Drug suppression police in Northern Thailand have announced 2 major drug operations that resulted in five arrests and the seizure of approximately 3.2 million methamphetamine pills shipped from the border areas of Chiang Rai Province.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Kritthaphon Yisakorn, Commander of the Provincial Police Region and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) jointly announced the arrest of 2 major drug cases in which 5 suspects, 4 cars, and 3,280,000 methamphetamine pills were seized.
In the first case, officers received a tip-off that a drug network would smuggle drugs from Chiang Rai Province into the interior of the country, believing they could use the flood situation to their advantage.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Kritthaphon said two vehicles were found following each other out of Mueang Chiang Rai District. At approximately 2:30 PM, a Ford Everest with Phitsanulok license plates was stopped at a highway checkpoint.
The police officers called the driver to pull over for an inspection, but he sped away. The Highway police radioed the police command and described the vehicle and driver.
The vehicle was found abandoned on the side of the road in Mae Chiang Rai Bon Village, Mae Prik District, Lampang Province. Inside the vehicle, they found 10 sacks containing approximately 2,006,000 methamphetamine pills.
Police later tracked down the driver, who was arrested. Under interrogation, the driver, identified as Mr. Chanarong, told police that the lead vehicle was a double-cab Isuzu pickup truck that was to spot him but sped away after clearing the checkpoint.
The truck was later stopped at a drug checkpoint in Nakhon Sawan Province, where police arrested Mr. Paisarn, who was wanted on an arrest warrant in Nonthaburi Province. Police later seized assets, two vehicles, and two mobile phones, totaling approximately 2 million baht, from Mr. Paisarn’s residence.
In the second case, police officers were once again tipped off that the drug network would be smuggling drugs from the Chiang Rai border area into the interior of the country.
An investigation revealed the drugs would be transported by two vehicles, an MG pickup truck and a Honda sedan. The target vehicles were spotted leaving Chiang Rai Province and heading to the inner area.
At approximately 10:30 AM, the white Honda sedan was stopped at a roadside checkpoint, where police ordered a vehicle search.
The initial search results found no illegal items, so they scanned the car in an X-ray tunnel and released the car and driver.
Later, the MG pickup truck arrived at the checkpoint. The initial search results did not find any illegal items, so they scanned it in the X-ray tunnel. The scan revealed approximately 1,274,000 pills hidden inside the pickup truck bed and the spare tire under the vehicle.
The suspect was arrested, and the drugs were seized as evidence for legal proceedings. Later, the Honda vehicle was intercepted at a checkpoint in Nakhon Sawan Province.
The driver, Mr. Sittisak, and his passenger, Ms. Ornpin, were arrested. They admitted that they were actually surveying the route. The suspects’ assets, totaling approximately 1 million baht, were seized.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Kritthaphon said a summary of the drug arrests by the Provincial Police Region 5 from October 1, 2023, to September 19, 2024, showed 24,985 drug cases, 197 of which were major drug busts.
Drugs seized included 226 million methamphetamine pills, 1,910 kilograms of crystal meth, 305 kilograms of heroin, 52 kilograms of ketamine, and 270 kilograms of opium. Drug-related assets worth approximately 2,088 million baht were also seized.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Kritthaphon told reporters that all relevant agencies were cooperating to strictly suppress drug trafficking and that the drug networks are trying in every way to avoid the eyes of the authorities.
After the major flooding in Chiang Rai Province, and the situation began to improve, there have been continuous attempts by the drug networks to smuggle drugs in large quantities.
He said flooding in the border area of Chiang Rai Province has affected drug production by drug trafficking networks in neighboring countries because it has made it more difficult to import raw materials for production.
Authorities now worry that due to the flooding situation, drug networks will ramp up heroin smuggling into Thailand. Above all, the areas for planting opium that is processed into heroin in neighboring countries have increased and yielded good results.
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Geoff Thomas is an award winning journalist known for his sharp insights and no-nonsense reporting style. Over the years he has worked for Reuters and the Canadian Press covering everything from political scandals to human interest stories. He brings a clear and direct approach to his work.
