Hmong leader hit linked to meth find

CHIANG RAI: An abandoned pickup truck loaded with 1.4 tonnes of methamphetamine pills found in Wiang Kaen district is believed to be linked to the deadly ambush of a Hmong leader and his family in April.

A total of 57 sacks, containing 11,996,000 speed pills and weighing 1,425kg, were found in the back of the Mazda pickup abandoned on the side of the Chiang Rai-Wiang Chai road, near the Myanmar border, on Monday.

One of the vehicle’s wheels had fallen off and the driver had fled.

The find was reported to police by local residents, Pol Gen Thanitsak Theerasawat, special adviser to the Royal Thai Police Office, told a media briefing yesterday.

He said smugglers had recently begun using secondary roads in northern areas to avoid police checkpoints on the main highways. The pickup may have been heading for Phayao. It was overloaded and this might be why the wheel came off.

The 57 packs of speed pills were all stamped with the “Y1’’ or “999’’ brand and were believed to belong to a Wa drug trafficking gang, Pol Gen Thanitsak said.

Pol Lt Gen Poonsap Prasertsak, commander of Provincial Police Region 5, said the smuggled cargo was believed to be linked to another seizure of 9.4 million speed pills in Wiang Kaen district on April 2.

It was also linked to the fatal attack on the chief of the Hmong Club in Thailand and his family in Wiang Kaen district on April 24, Pol Lt Gen Poonsap said.

Two or more gunmen opened fire on Thaweesak Yodmaneebanphot, 54, the head of Thailand-based Hmong association, and his family, killing his 40-yearold wife, Maiyia and their 5-year-old daughter, Thanyaporn.

Mr Thaweesak, who is also kamnan of tambon Por, sustained a gunshot wound to his right arm while his 3-year-old son, Chaimongkol, was hit in the left leg. The family was driving home from their farm in their pickup truck on the Ban Rom Fa Thong-Ban Pha Tang road in tambon Por when the gunmen attacked.

Mr Thaweesak is also known as a land rights campaigner for residents in Thoeng and Wiang Kaen districts and against the illegal drug trade. He had provided information to police about the smuggling of 9 million methamphetamine pills prior to the ambush, Pol Lt Gen Poonsap said.