CHIANG RAI: Combined government forces arrested two men with 962,000 methamphetamine pills in their possession in Chiang Khong district of this northern province on Saturday, Pol Lt Gen Montri Sumbunnanond, commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 5, said on Sunday.
He identified the two as Kachapol Sae Wang, 26, of Mae Fa Luang district, and Yutthana Songsakluechai, 21, of Chiang Saen district.
They were arrested at 3.30pm on Saturday when an Isuzu pick-up they were travelling in was intercepted at Ban Nanoy in tambon Wiang of Chiang Khong district by members of the Chiang Rai Mekong Riverine Unit and the 31st Ranger Task Force.
The pick-up was suspected to be carrying drugs and had been trailed by police from the Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Fa Luang district before being intercepted in Chiang Khong district.
A total of 962,000 meth pills were found hidden in the speakers and the rear of the pick-up. They were believed to be destined for Laos.
Pol Lt Gen Montri said during the period from October last year to May this year, Region 5 police seized over 196 million meth pills from drug smugglers. The drugs were seized while being transported from locations on the border with Myanmar on the western side of the North over to the eastern side, where they were headed across the border into Laos.
From Laos, the drugs would then be smuggled across the border into the Northeast Region of Thailand via Loei, Nong Khai and Bung Kan provinces, he added.
