Police seize Bt70 million in illegal drugs in two cases

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Police seize Bt70 million in illegal drugs in two cases
TNA 2011-09-26

BANGKOK, Sept 26 – Thai authorities have arrested five suspected drug traffickers and seized some 300,000 methamphetamine pills valued at about Bt70 million (US$ 2.3 million) in two separate cases on Monday.

In the first case, four suspected drug syndicate members from the North, led by a former military conscript, were arrested at a supermarket in Nakhon Pathom’s Sampran district, about 50 km west of Bangkok.

The detaines are Veerasak Wooncharoen, Aekachai Wooncharoen, Prachuap Huayhongthong and Thanat Kanlaya.

The police confiscated 135,800 methamphetamine pills with an estimated value of Bt40 million (about US$1.3 million).

Undercover police posing as customers sought to buy the illicit drug after learning of an illegal drug delivery in Nakhon Pathom.

According to the investigation, the shipment was smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar through Chiang Rai’s Chiang Saen district before being distributed to dealers in Bangkok and surrounding areas.

Each order was made by telephone, with phone numbers being changed each time to obstruct police investigation.

Mr Veerasak was formerly in a border patrol unit on the Mekong River and his girlfriend from Myanmar is alleged to have convinced him to join the drug syndicate. He told the authorities he has been involved in carrying drugs three times and received Bt30,000 each time. He was charged with possession of illegal drugs for sale.

In another case, police seized 166,000 methamphetamine pills with an estimated street value of Bt32 million (US$1 million) at a bus terminal in Bangkok’s Taling Chan district.

The drug seizure followed a tip from a bus employee about a suspicious man in his 30’s with luggage intent to travel by a Bangkok-Nakhon Si Thammarat bus.

The transit employee said the traveler behaved suspiciously, leaving his bag and running away when asked to show his bus ticket and luggage deposit record.

Taling Chan police were called to investigate and found the methamphetamine in his luggage.

Police presumed that the drug was to be delivered to drug dealers in the southern region.

According to Pol Lt Gen Chakthip Chaichinda, Metropolitan police chief, an arrest warrant currently was out for a suspect as surveillance cameras installed in the terminal captured his image.

He was charged with possessing illicit drugs for sale. (MCOT online news)