HAUL OF SPEED, METH SEIZED

>> CHIANG RAI: Nearly eight million speed pills and 50kg of crystal methamphetamine were seized from a pickup truck owned by a smuggler with potential links to the drug trafficking gang alleged to be behind the shooting of a kamnan in Chiang Rai’s Wiang Kaen district last month.

The drugs were seized by a military task force after chasing the smuggler, who is believed to be an Akha highlander, in Wiang Chiang Rung district on Friday night.

Soldiers manning a checkpoint at Ban Pha village in tambon Dong Mahawan signalled to a new Toyota Hilux Revo pickup truck with no licence plate to stop for a search at about 9.45pm on Friday, but the driver sped off and the troops followed.

The driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to plunge into a roadside ditch about 350 metres from the checkpoint. He managed to run away.

Troops found 39 fertiliser sacks containing 7.8 million speed pills and two sacks containing 50kg of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, in the bed of the pickup truck, said Lt Gen Wichak Siribansop, the Third Army commander. The pills alone have a street value of up to 2.4 billion baht.

Speaking at Meng Rai Maharaj military camp, Lt Gen Wichak said he believed the drugs belonged to a minority ethnic group that had smuggled them onto Thai soil.

Lt Gen Wichak said the latest drug haul was the result of coordinated sting operations launched across Chiang Rai last month.

He noted it was unusual that the drug gang delivered the drugs through the downtown area. The smugglers normally transport drugs along the roads near the border to evade authorities, he said.

National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda has ordered police to set up more roadside checkpoints in drug-infiltrated areas of the North, according to Pol Col Krissana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Office.

Lt Gen Wichak said the suspect may be a member of a drug gang potentially connected to the shooting of Thaweesak Yodmaneebanphot, 54, the head of Thailand-based Hmong association, on April 24.

Mr Thaweesak is a local leader who has campaigned for land rights and against the illegal drug trade.