Four busts net B112m drug haul

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) has announced four major drug busts with drugs seized topping 112 million baht in value.

They were revealed by assistant national police chief Pol Lt Gen Wissanu Prasartthong-osod at a press briefing yesterday. One involved an Angolan woman who swallowed a kilogramme of cocaine to evade a customs check at Suvarnabhumi airport.

In the first case, Napat Pattarakan, 31, was arrested for allegedly having about 300,000 methamphetamine pills in his possession in Phayuha Khiri district of Nakhon Sawan.

The tablets were hidden inside a secret compartment of his pickup truck and were being taken to Nakhon Sawan from a northern border area.

Police said they also impounded a car used to escort the delivery vehicle, which was found abandoned near a school in the district.

In the second case, Paithoon Ngernlua, and Nathee Saeng-orn, both 38, were nabbed separately in Chiang Rai and Phayao.

Mr Paithoon was arrested in tambon Rob Wiang of Chiang Rai and Mr Nathee at a roadside checkpoint in Muang district of Phayao.

According to the NSB, the police intercepted Mr Paithoon in a shopping mall carpark in downtown Chiang Rai. A search of his van uncovered 680,000 meth pills that were likely produced and smuggled in from a neighbouring country.

In the third case, Wan Prompanya, 55, was apprehended by police with 30kg of crystal methamphetamine or ya ice hidden in his car at the Mae Kachan hot springs in Wiang Pa Pao district of Chiang Rai.

The arrest followed a tip-off that he was planning to deliver drugs to a customer in neighbouring Chiang Mai.

In the last case, an Angolan woman, identified as Suamu Nkele, was caught by customs officers at Suvarnabhumi airport this week as she tried to bring in a kilogramme of cocaine into the country.

Most of it was found in her stomach and some had been hidden in her socks and underwear. The woman arrived in Bangkok from Luanda, the Angolan capital.