CHIANG RAI: Two members of a drug caravan were arrested and 7.4 million speed pills and 200kg of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of over 1.7 billion baht seized along a border area in Wiang Kaen district late Friday night.
A combined force of police and soldiers spotted some 20-30 men carrying sacks on Ban Huay Ian-Wiang Kaen route in Wiang Kaen district at around 11pm on Friday.
Those men were crossing the road when the officers signalled them for a search. Upon seeing the officers, many abandoned their sacks and fled to a nearby forest in the darkness, said Lt Gen Wijak Siribansop, commander of the 3rd Army Region in charge of the North, during a media briefing.
Two of them were later caught, with the abandoned sacks containing 7.4 million speed pills and 200kg of crystal methamphetamine, he said.
The pair were identified as Wirat Sae Lee, 23, and Thongchai Vetchamnarn, 27, both from Wiang Kaen district. They were held in police custody at Waeng Kaen police station for legal action.
Pol Lt Gen Poonsap Prasertsak, commander of Provincial Police Region 5, said the seized drugs were believed to have belonged to the same gang that smuggled 11.9 million speed pills on May 21. The smugglers managed to flee, but the drugs were seized.
The production cost of speed pills is 10 baht each while the cost of crystal meth was about 500,000 baht a kilogramme, or 174 million baht, said Pol Lt Gen Poonsap. The drugs, if smuggled into the Central Plains or Bangkok, could fetch up to 1.74 billion baht, he added.
