Five sentenced to death in Thai meth laundering case

Thailand's Supreme Court has upheld death sentences for five people convicted over a major methamphetamine trafficking and money-laundering network operating across the Thai-Myanmar-Laos border.

The ruling was delivered on September 7 at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok. The five defendants were accused of drug conspiracy, assisting drug offenders, conspiracy to commit money laundering and jointly laundering money.

Prosecutors said Narcotics Suppression Bureau police arrested the group's financial network in 2019. The defendants were named only as Piyachat, Krittipong, Amphon, Somboon and Korakot.

All five denied the charges. The Criminal Court originally sentenced each of them to death, and the Court of Appeal's narcotics division upheld the verdict.

Court rejects appeals

Defendants two to five appealed with permission from the Supreme Court. Defendant one did not appeal, meaning her death sentence remained in force under the Appeal Court ruling.

The Supreme Court's narcotics division said it had reviewed the case file and found it established that, in February 2014, an absconding suspect and others possessed 5.2 million Type 1 narcotic pills for sale. The fugitive suspect was not brought to trial alongside the five defendants.

The court found the evidence against defendants two and three sufficient to show they conspired with defendant one in drug offences.

It ruled that defendant four was guilty of money laundering. Defendant five was found to have opened bank accounts to receive transfers of drug proceeds from defendant one, as part of a large trafficking operation intended to hide the money trail and the source of the assets.

Cars and property seized

Police seized assets valued at about 100 million baht during arrests at the Grand Bangkok Boulevard development on Ratchada-Ram Intra Road in Bangkok.

The assets included four houses with land worth about 76 million baht, two condominiums valued at around 3.3 million baht, vehicles including a Toyota Alphard, Porsche Panamera and Mercedes-Benz 220D, plus four Harley-Davidson and Honda NSX motorcycles listed at about 2.2 million baht. Other property was valued at about 5 million baht.

According to the case, defendant one received and stored drugs, then delivered them to buyers. Defendants two and three acted on her instructions and handled financial transactions. Defendants four and five helped by using drug money in a vehicle trading business in Myanmar, concealing its origin by changing the form of the assets.

The Supreme Court said the scale of the methamphetamine case posed a serious threat to state security, citing potential crime, economic, social and public-health damage if the drugs reached communities.

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8 September 2026