SONGKHLA: Two people have been arrested and 447 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, known as ya ice, worth about 223 million baht confiscated in Songkhla's Hat Yai district, police said yesterday.
Sorpi-ee Jirawan, a resident of Narathiwat, and Arun Chuchuen, from Songkhla, were apprehended sitting in a parked pickup truck early yesterday morning by police acting on a tip-off about drug smuggling.
A total of 447kg of crystal meth was found in the vehicle, a Toyota pickup with Songkhla licence plates. The vehicle was parked in tambon Khlong U-tapao.
Some of the drugs were under a cover on the back of the truck and the rest hidden in secret compartments in the vehicle, police said.
The drugs were believed to have been smuggled from the Northeast for delivery to Malaysia. The suspects claimed during initial questioning they were hired only to transport the drugs.
Police said the narcotics and the vehicle were seized for further investigation.
Meanwhile in Khon Kaen, a drug wholesaler known as "Ten Muang Khon" was nabbed during a scuffle with police, who confiscated more than 170,000 speed pills and crystal meth from him.
His arrest followed the detention of drug suspects, one of whom was found to be a relative of Uten "Ten" Palatsichuay, a suspected major drug supplier in the Northeast.
A squad made up of police, soldiers and local officials managed to catch him in a sting operation near a private university in Khon Kaen.
"The suspect tried to escape being arrested, which caused a short scuffle to break out with some officers," Pol Col Direk Chitaram, the deputy chief of Khon Kaen police, said yesterday.
However, the 40-year-old eventually surrendered.
A search of his room found a pistol, a digital weighing scale, a list of his customers' names and cash worth 125,000 baht, in addition to various narcotics.
Investigators said Mr Uten purchased the drugs from a dealer in the Central Plains.
