‘Syndicate wanted to smuggle 14.8 mln syabu tablets to Malaysia’

BANGKOK: Thai authorities confirmed that Malaysia was the intended destination for 14.8 million ‘ Yaba’ ( Syabu) tablets it seized from a trailer in Ayutthaya, central Thailand on Aug 18.

From Malaysia, which the syndicate used as a transit country, the drugs were to be smuggled to other destinations.

“From the investigation, we have found that the drugs were supposed to be taken to southern Thailand and then smuggled to Malaysia and to other countries,” said Narcotics Suppression Bureau ( NSB) chief Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk at a media conference here yesterday.

Besides the drug- laden trailer, NSB officers also arrested three men who during the interrogation had provided muchneeded information about the syndicate behind the drug seizure and the intended destination after Ayutthaya.

In a coordinated operation, Thai authorities stopped the trailer while it was on its way to a warehouse in Bang Prain, Ayutthaya to unload the drugs and apprehended the three suspects.

The syndicate, according to Sommai, sourced the drugs directly from groups within the WA Special Region in Myanmar for distribution to wider markets, using Thailand and Malaysia among others as their transit countries.

“It (the syndicate) is one of the major transnational drug syndicates in Thailand,” he said, adding that it was the largest seizure of ‘ Yaba’ made by the NSB so far this year.

Meanwhile, NSB Drug Interdiction Division chief Maj Gen Dussadee Choosankjit revealed that one of the three men picked up during the operations has been identified as the son of the syndicate’s mastermind, who currently remains at large.

The syndicate, he said, used a complex modus operandi to avoid detection by the authorities.

Office of Narcotics Control Board ( ONCB) head Sirinya Sitdichai, who was present during the media conference, said from October last year until Aug 20 this year, the authorities had seized 299 million ‘ Yaba’ tablets compared to 214 million tablets during the corresponding period last year.

For NSB, during the same period this year, it seized 48.82 million ‘ Yaba’ tablets, 5.31 tonnes of ‘ ice’ ( crystal meth), 626kg of heroin, 100.92kg of cocaine and 9.37 tonnes of cannabis, altogether valued at about 10.17 billion Baht ( RM1.271 billion). — Bernama