Dealer shot dead, 1m pills found

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Dealer shot dead, 1m pills found
The Nation 2011-07-19

Police shot dead a suspected drug courier yesterday in a gunfight in Chiang Rai, which saw more than one million amphetamine and other illegal tablets seized.

The unidentified gunman and a fellow courier were intercepted a vehicle late on Sunday night in a stakeout in Mae Sai district, but the pair opened fire on police with automatic weapons and sped away.

The suspects' pickup later ran off a road after a brief chase and one man was shot in an ensuing gunfight, before the other managed to flee. Police found over a million ya ba pills in the vehicle, plus |73 bars of 'Ice' flake, an |AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition.

Police said the suspects worked for a network of drug gangs and used the four-day long weekend to transport the drugs, hoping police would ease up on routine patrols and checkpoints.

The drugs were estimated to have a street value of Bt500 million. More than 13 million amphetamine tablets have been seized in the far North over the past six months, along with 100kg of 'Ice' and 200kg of heroin, police said.