Embassies gird for drug gangs blitz

Thailand and Malaysia have agreed to bolster joint efforts against transnational drug trafficking by mutually sending liaison officers to better crack down on drug gangs.

The Thai Office of the Narcotics Control Board is preparing to send officials to the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, while the Malaysian Narcotics Crime Investigation Department will send its officials to the Malaysian embassy in Bangkok, ONCB secretary-general Sirinya Sidthichai said yesterday.

Closer cooperation between the countries, which began in 1981, is viewed as crucial to stamping out drug trafficking in the region as members of the Association of South East Asian Nations support a 10-year plan toward “securing the community against illicit drugs.”

The new agreement between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur was announced during the 38th Thai-Malaysian meeting, in which authorities met to update their progress on drug operations, including information exchange and crackdowns on various types of narcotics, including kratom leaves.

Kratom, known scientifically as Mitragyna speciose, is classified as an illicit drug. Drug gangs usually smuggle the plant from southern Thailand to Malaysia.

Last year Malaysian authorities seized up to 55 tonnes of kratom leaves as a result of bilateral efforts, said Police Commissioner Dato Sri Mohd Mokhtar Bin HJ Mohd Shariff, chief of the Malaysian Narcotics Crime Investigation Department.

Seizures have continued this year as Malaysian officers confiscated 19 tonnes of the leaf from January to June, said Mr Sirinya.

Meanwhile, police yesterday arrested six suspects during a drug party at a resort in Hat Yai municipality, Songkhla.

One of the suspects, Wiraphong Saengkhao, 31, brought his one-year-old son to the party, claiming there was nobody to take care of the child at home.

Police raided a room in the resort where they found six people taking methamphetamine pills and crystal methamphetamine. The suspects included four men and two women, one of whom is aged 18.