Cops, military scour border for drug gang
Myanmar asked to help crush operation
Police and the military yesterday asked Myanmar to detain and return 31 Thai drug suspects lying low in the border town of Tachilek.
Arrest warrants for the suspects were handed to Myanmar authorities by a delegation of Thai drug suppression officers — led by 3rd Army chief Thana Jaruwat — who visited the town yesterday.
Myanmar officials were also provided with four locations believed to be the hideouts of the culprits.
The officials, accompanied by members of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, also discussed bilateral collaboration to suppress the narcotics trade along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Lt Gen Thana said Tachilek, located in Myanmar’s Shan state opposite Chaing Rai’s Mae Sai, serves as a refuge for more than 300 drug criminals.
Thailand asked Myanmar authorities to locate, arrest and deport them.
An investigation also indicated several drug suspects who fled to Myanmar became members of transnational narcotic syndicates which supply illegal narcotics to Thai drug networks.
“Myanmar has given full cooperation to us — they promise they will expedite their investigations to track down those drug criminals. A massive joint ThaiMyanmar crackdown on drugs will also be launched soon,” he said.
Lt Gen Thana said Thailand has seen a widespread prevalence of drug trafficking this year with more than 150 million methamphetamine pills (ya ba) and more than four tonnes of crystal meth (ya ice) impounded over the past 10 months.
The country’s drug problem has been exacerbated by Chinese narcotic rings which procure a large amount of drug precursors to distribute to ethnic Akha and Muser highlanders who produce illicit drugs in Myanmar, he said.
Meanwhile, four drug suspects were nabbed with nearly two million meth pills in Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in district on Thursday.
The suspects were identified as Thongchai Meelarb, 27, Wicha Naksri, 21, Chamnan Keodkaew, 35, and Wichitta Thoobthong, 23, all Ang Thong residents.
The raid was conducted by a joint force of investigators from Ayutthaya provincial police and Ang Thong’s Ram Ma Sak police station.
Police confiscated about 1.9 million meth pills, a pistol, 100 bullets, six account books and two motorcycles from their townhouse in tambon Sam Ruen. A probe will be widened to hunt down other suspects in the case.
On the same day, a man was detained with more than 20,000 meth pills at a police checkpoint in Prasat district, Surin.
The suspect was named as Paen Khantharak, 23, from Nakhon Ratchasima. He was arrested after Chok Na Sam police flagged down his Toyota car at the checkpoint.
The search found about 21,900 meth pills in a suitcase inside the vehicle’s boot and a small bag of marijuana in the driver’s seat.
During police questioning, Mr Paen allegedly confessed he was on his way to deliver the drug from Nakhon Ratchasima’s Sikhiu district to a drug dealer in Ubon Ratchathani’s Det Udom district.