SONGKHLA: Authorities have seized 123 sacks containing more than one tonne of kratom leaves at a border area in Sadao district.
Sadao district chief Chawakit Suwankhiri on Tuesday led officials to the border area at Ban Ban Na in tambon Huay Khu, following information that many sacks containing kratom leaves were kept there.
The team found a total of 123 sacks containing 1,230 kilogrammes of fresh kratom leaves and two motorcycles with Songkhla licence plates but there was no one there.
Officials said an army of small couriers had smuggled the kratom leaves from the Malaysian border to keep them there. The leaves, sold at 300 baht a kg in Malaysia, fetche twice as much on Thai soil.
The seized kratom leaves, worth more than 700,000 baht, were handed over to local police at Sadao police station.
