40,000 meth pills seized after shootout near border

LOEI: Over 40,000 methamphetamine pills were seized in Tha Li district yesterday after border patrol police exchanged gunfire with drug traffickers along the Hueang River, the boundary watercourse between Thailand and Laos.

Theerasak Phosima, chief of the Loeibased Border Patrol Police Company 246, said a total of 41,386 speed pills, or ya ba, along with one kilogramme of crystal meth, were impounded during the operation, which took place in tambon Nong Phue early yesterday morning.

The raid was launched after a tip-off. As police were laying low at the scene, they noticed a light on the opposite side of the river at around 1am. Police then saw three to four men carrying suspicious cargo while crossing the river into Thailand.

When the group reached Thai soil and saw the officers, they opened fire, prompting the authorities to fire back. The shootout reportedly lasted nearly 20 minutes.

The subjects then fled back across the water into Laos, leaving their cargo behind.

An inspection found a fertiliser bag with the speed pills wrapped in 21 bundles and the crystal meth inside.

Pol Lt Col Theerasak said the speed pills belonged to a Wa Nua (northern Wa) ethnic drug syndicate as all the tablets were red and imprinted with “Y1”.

In a separate case, more than 200,000 speed pills and 49.01 grammes of crystal meth were discovered in Mukdahan yesterday.