Car chase, shootout ends in arrest of drug suspects
>>AYUTTHAYA: Two members of a major drug smuggling gang were arrested and 400kg of marijuana worth about 6 million baht seized after a dramatic car chase and shootout in Wang Noi district of this Central Plains province yesterday.
Narongsak Kawichai, 47, and Pornchai Saengbunchai, 48, both from Ayutthaya, were nabbed on Phahon Yothin Road in Wang Noi, said Pol Maj Gen Worawat Watnakornbancha, chief of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD).
The arrest came after ATPD investigators received information that a major drug smuggling gang in the Central Plains would bring large quantities of marijuana from Laos into the country.
The drugs would be kept at a storage facility before being delivered to small agents in the Central region such as Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya and nearby provinces, Pol Maj Gen Worawat said.
The investigators sent spies posing as customers to contact members of the gang to buy 400 compressed marijuana bricks at 15,000 baht a kilogramme, or 6 million baht.
The gang had arranged a parking lot at Wang Noi market in tambon Lamsai as a venue to deliver the drugs.
Police were sent to the area. When two suspected vehicles arrived at the area and the drivers acted suspiciously, the officers showed up to arrest them.
However, the drivers sped off, prompting the police to give chase.
Members of the police team fired shots at tyres of the two vehicles before the team arrested the suspects on Phahon Yothin Road.
During the interrogation, the pair admitted they had been hired to deliver the drugs to small-scale agents and received 150,000 baht each for each delivery.
They told police they had made at least 10 deliveries before being caught, said Pol Maj Gen Worawat.
During the police arrest, a police vehicle was found with some bullet holes. Nobody was wounded.
Authorities believe at least two more drug gang members had fired shots at the police vehicle and managed to flee the scene.
Police records show Narongsak, one of the suspects, had been issued with two arrest warrants for murder and illegal possession of firearms in 2009 and another case involving drugs in 2010.
The two suspects have been charged with illegal possession of Category 5 drugs.