Tip leads to police bust netting 15 million meth pills involving international gangs

[snoop1130]

Tip leads to police bust netting 15 million meth pills involving international gangs

By Kornkamon Aksorndej 
The Nation

 

 

National police deputy commissioner Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan on Wednesday declared a successful drug bust after three male suspects were arrested on August 18 in Ayutthaya and 14.8 million methamphetamine pills worth Bt1.5 billion were seized from a trailer truck’s container.

 

Chalermkiat told a press conference at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) in Bangkok that Chiang Mai native Jirapat Wisutkhongkamon, 28, and two Nong Khai men – Pollawat Saibutr, 28, and Seksit Singcherdchuwong, 34 – had confessed to transporting narcotics and were charged with possessing drugs with the intent to sell.

 

The arrests and seizure culminated a police investigation launched in July following a tip. Police learned that a drug gang based in the North, and with a connection to Lao drug traffickers, had transported illicit cargoes – hidden among farm produce – in a trailer truck from Chiang Rai to a warehouse in Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in district. The drugs were to be later distributed to retail dealers in Bangkok and nearby provinces. 

 

Investigators, staking out the target warehouse in Chiang Rai’s Thoeng district, spotted the trailer truck –reportedly driven by Jirawat – departing the premises on August 16 morning and dispatched teams to tail it from a distance.

 

When the truck reached Bang Pa-in reportedly to collect fruit-filled boxes, Pollawat and Seksit showed up to take over the truck from Jirawat and drove back to the Chiang Rai warehouse, where the fruit boxes were reportedly emptied and the fruit replaced by drugs. The pair later drove the drug-laden container truck back to Bang Pa-in. 

 

Having established clear links between the two sites – which later were found to have been rented by the same person – and the suspects, and confirming the grounds for suspicions that the truck carried drugs, police then staked out the Asia Highway roadside spot where the three suspects met on August 18, and moved in to search them and uncover the drugs.

 

Police also conducted a search at the Chiang Rai warehouse the following day to search for more drugs, but did not find any.

 

NSB chief Lt-General Sommai Kongvisaisuk said police suspect the drugs were from a Lao drug trafficking gang with links to Hmong dealers in Chiang Rai’s Wiang Kaen district. The dealers are known to haul large loads of over 10 million pills per time.

 

Sommai said such large batches may not be distributed only within Thailand, but also transported through the South to reach a third country. He revealed that the gang had used a seal carrying the Customs Department’s logo to avoid officers’ opening and searching the container.

 

Sommai also confirmed his previous statement in April that drug trafficker Surachai “Bung Ron” Ngernthongfoo, who had reportedly faked his own death two decades ago and underwent plastic surgery to avoid arrest, was still alive and living in Laos.

 

Sommai also reported on police success in drug busts since from 2016 until now. So far that they made arrests in 2,724 cases and seized over 189 million methamphetamine pills, 10,108.76 kilograms of crystal meth or “ice”, 866.17 kilograms of heroin, 182.37 kilograms of cocaine and 13,132.78 kilograms of dried marijuana. The confiscated drugs were estimated to be worth Bt1.313 billion.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30352730

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-8-22

[webfact]

Thailand seizes huge 1.48 billion baht haul of methamphetamines

 

Thai police officers unload seized drugs from a vehicle in a police station in Bangkok, ThailandAugust 22, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police have seized more than 14 million methamphetamine pills worth 1.48 billion baht (£35 million) that were bound for neighbouring Malaysia and beyond, authorities said on Tuesday, in one of its biggest ever drug busts.

 

Police said that the orange pills of methamphetamine, known as "yaba" or "crazy drug", were seized in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, on Aug. 18.

 

Three Thais were arrested in connection with the seizure, police said. The drugs came from Shan State in northeast Myanmar, in an area under the control of an ethnic Wa militia force, police said.

 

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau displayed the haul, neatly packed into large container bags, at their headquarters.

 

Bureau commander Police Lieutenant General Sommai Kongvisaisuk said the drugs were destined for Malaysia and then on to markets around the world.

 

"It gets distributed to Europe, America, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Korea and will make a lot of money," he said.

 

The seizure is the latest big methamphetamine bust in the region. Record seizures of the stimulant have recently been made in Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

The production and trafficking of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia has reached "alarming levels", the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned in a May report.

 

Much of the methamphetamine produced in the region comes from lawless parts of Myanmar, in particular Shan State, which has long been known for the production of opium and its refined form, heroin.

 

In recent years, the drug syndicates have branched out into the production of methamphetamine.

 

(Reporting by Tobias Wertime; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-23

[leeneeds]

NO will to do serious damage prior to sending these shipments, how many get through? 

[rgrdns]

Tip of the iceberg....

[Mickmouse1]

I wonder why the operation is not investigating the real Big fish behind that Haul. Those 3 are only servants doing a job for the big Boyz behind the scene. 

[happy chappie]

It looks like the drug busts are getting bigger which leads me to believe the demand is getting higher.to the big boys this will just be a hiccup and with customers waiting another load is on its way as I write.these mass produced pills will cost next to nothing to produce with profits that are off the scale.please not let us have some moron coming on here and saying the war on drugs is lost and it should be legalised.makes me sick when I read about heroin users getting needles and methadone because they can't kick the habit.as far as I know you can't die of cold turkey but you will probably die of drug misuse  or live a miserable life.there should be two types of prisons for drugs.1 a drug dependency and rehabilitation prison.2 a prison like the black hole o the Calcutta for dealers and them who don't want to rehabilitate.

[worgeordie]

Why not follow the truck and shipment to its

final destination, arresting drivers and low level

workers is never going to stop the trade,but that

maybe the point,everytime the police intercept

a shipment they get a reward,a % of the worth,

so that would have been a nice big earner for them,

wiping the trade out,would result in a loss of income 

for the police.

regards Worgeordie

[happy chappie]

How about it if your caught with drugs that you have two choices.go to jail or eat the whole lot and you can go free.???

[ta158]

1 pill = 200 - 400 baht x 14 million = 2.8 billion - 5.6  billion baht.  85 - 170 million US Dollars.

[South]

Sounds to me as the RTP have done a pretty good job on this one. They found the two warehouses, found who they belonged to (rented by), found out how the shipments were being, made three arrests and taken nearly 15 million pills off the street. And that is just from the information that has been made public, I'm sure there is also information we don't know about. 

 

I know it goes against the grain here, but good job RTP ?

[from the home of CC]

Since 2016, 10 tons of crystal. Being very generous and say they interdicted 10%, that means 100 tons of crystal made it on through. The number imho is much higher than that. That's a lot of sleepless nights for a lot of people.

[Small Joke]

13 hours ago, happy chappie said:

It looks like the drug busts are getting bigger which leads me to believe the demand is getting higher.to the big boys this will just be a hiccup and with customers waiting another load is on its way as I write.these mass produced pills will cost next to nothing to produce with profits that are off the scale.please not let us have some moron coming on here and saying the war on drugs is lost and it should be legalised.makes me sick when I read about heroin users getting needles and methadone because they can't kick the habit.as far as I know you can't die of cold turkey but you will probably die of drug misuse  or live a miserable life.there should be two types of prisons for drugs.1 a drug dependency and rehabilitation prison.2 a prison like the black hole o the Calcutta for dealers and them who don't want to rehabilitate.

I'm a Moron who believes the war on drugs is lost. And everything should be legalized. 

So are the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK. The Doctor who is editor of the Lancet, The Chief Justice of the High Court in Canberra, hundreds of parents of various dead user kids, and LEAP agencies worldwide (Police who are publicly lobbying against prohibition). And Thailand's very own former drug czar, General Paiboon, since promoted to the privy council.  

Your unpunctuated, and grossly ill informed drivel about heroin and addiction was very entertaining.  Thank you for schoolIng us morons on your brilliant continued prohibition stance, way to go. 

PS: Prisons are one of the top places to score drugs in most countries,  but thanks for your revisionist penal insights too. Scintillating stuff! 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-drugs-thailand-prisons/soaring-prison-population-prompts-thailand-to-re-think-lost-drug-war-idUSKCN0ZX01J

https://www.ganjapreneur.com/u-k-royal-college-of-physicians-calls-for-legalization-of-cannabis-cocaine-heroin/

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/michael-kirby-paradoxes--principles-20110610-1fw43.html

[Small Joke]

And then there's this little  inconveniece for the drug warriors to explain...

Portugal is the only nation to legalize all drugs. Since the 2001 reforms, there are three drug overdose deaths for every 1 million citizens. In the U.K., that figure is 44.6 per million, according to an Independentreport.  

[happy chappie]

7 hours ago, Small Joke said:

I'm a Moron who believes the war on drugs is lost. And everything should be legalized. 

So are the Royal College of Surgeons in the UK. The Doctor who is editor of the Lancet, The Chief Justice of the High Court in Canberra, hundreds of parents of various dead user kids, and LEAP agencies worldwide (Police who are publicly lobbying against prohibition). And Thailand's very own former drug czar, General Paiboon, since promoted to the privy council.  

Your unpunctuated, and grossly ill informed drivel about heroin and addiction was very entertaining.  Thank you for schoolIng us morons on your brilliant continued prohibition stance, way to go. 

PS: Prisons are one of the top places to score drugs in most countries,  but thanks for your revisionist penal insights too. Scintillating stuff! 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-drugs-thailand-prisons/soaring-prison-population-prompts-thailand-to-re-think-lost-drug-war-idUSKCN0ZX01J

https://www.ganjapreneur.com/u-k-royal-college-of-physicians-calls-for-legalization-of-cannabis-cocaine-heroin/

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/michael-kirby-paradoxes--principles-20110610-1fw43.html

You fail to mention places like North America that alone 100 people die a day from opioids and every 25 minutes a child is born addicted to opioids.which are a form of heroin.i won't even rattle off figures for South America as I've not got a week spare and that's got nothing to do with the law.sorry but your liberal thinking has blinded you from the real epidemic of what drugs do.only last week I had a friend here in udon who hung himself and was in a terrible state through drug dependency.if you don't believe me check farang deaths .com.karl Olof.nice guy but totally ruined by use of drugs and not capable of living a normal life.again last month here in udon a farang dealer and probably user crashed and died.the misuse of prescription drugs is proof alone that decriminalising illegal drugs won't work.

[happy chappie]

6 hours ago, Small Joke said:

And then there's this little  inconveniece for the drug warriors to explain...

Portugal is the only nation to legalize all drugs. Since the 2001 reforms, there are three drug overdose deaths for every 1 million citizens. In the U.K., that figure is 44.6 per million, according to an Independentreport.  

 

6 hours ago, Small Joke said:

And then there's this little  inconveniece for the drug warriors to explain...

Portugal is the only nation to legalize all drugs. Since the 2001 reforms, there are three drug overdose deaths for every 1 million citizens. In the U.K., that figure is 44.6 per million, according to an Independentreport.  

Oh yes Portugal.where most of the drug users left and flooded the likes of my city in the uk and started dealing and using drugs.your a fool that likes to read figures and come to your own conclusions but throughout the years I have seen many people die,families ruined and others not capable of leading a normal life.so your idea of legalising drugs sucks I'm a afraid to say.

[lanista]

Everyone knows where the meth labs are .Why arent they destroyed??

Because its protected  by the Myanamar gov/army and of course the Thai army brass ,

Its impossible for this trade to exist even one day without their protection.

These busts are the same as cocaine busts  in the USA . Feed everyone a big bust now and then but  the bulk goes through unmolested.  Everyones happy.

How much yaba came down to Bangkok and Pattaya within 24 hours of this latest huge bust?

Dont ask.

[Small Joke]

3 hours ago, happy chappie said:

You fail to mention places like North America that alone 100 people die a day from opioids and every 25 minutes a child is born addicted to opioids.which are a form of heroin.i won't even rattle off figures for South America as I've not got a week spare and that's got nothing to do with the law.sorry but your liberal thinking has blinded you from the real epidemic of what drugs do.only last week I had a friend here in udon who hung himself and was in a terrible state through drug dependency.if you don't believe me check farang deaths .com.karl Olof.nice guy but totally ruined by use of drugs and not capable of living a normal life.again last month here in udon a farang dealer and probably user crashed and died.the misuse of prescription drugs is proof alone that decriminalising illegal drugs won't work.

You fail to understand that opioids taken in legal measured doses do not kill anybody.

Which is why British Doctors support legalizing drugs!

The problem is that people (not all by a long shot) who get addicted to legal painkillers, turn to ILLEGAL sources, because they HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE at that point.

Liberal thinking? Try Scientific proof.

Sorry your friend died, prohibition clearly didn't stop that tragedy, did it? Which is/was the whole purpose of it in the first place, ergo, its a FAILURE.

Legalising everything would be no worse than legalizing booze.

Two big bottles of Vodka will kill you, but we don't go to the 7/11 to legally buy, and then drink them for lunch do we?

Alcoholics do, and they die, but we don't ban booze because of a few people who cant stop, do we?

Drugs are no different to booze, when treated like booze, they simply are not, and that's scientifically provable too.

Portugal (if you can be bothered to read a link that might open your mind for once) is proof that your moralistic statement about legalization has no basis in fact. It's based on a personal bigotry about drugs, and a stubborn conviction that banning them is the  only way to go, as your friends death and the numbers of deaths in Portugal vs UK proves, the opposite is true.

I am not suggesting that legalization would have saved him, because legal or not, alcoholics and addicts will always exist.

Some recover, most do not, whatever regime we impose, but it is known as a scientific fact, see Canada vs the USA in terms of opioid responses, that legal measured doses can and do keep people alive, it is 'cold turkey' that is deadly, for both alcohol, and opioids. Surprised? You should not be. Try reading something of the science, not the discredited propaganda, that exists to push the war effort.

Prohibition hands drug distribution to criminals, it does the opposite of what you intend.

Politics aside, if your goal is crime reduction, as is mine. You need to stop what is failing, and TAKE CONTROL OF THE DRUG SUPPLY, not choke it off -and thereby hand it to gangs, it's COMMON SENSE -that conservative favourite phrase you drug warriors love to throw about.

To be able to accept the radical idea that to legally supply drugs actually REDUCES the problem, means you need to examine the lesson of Portugal. 

Liberal or Conservative, if banging your head against a wall gives you a bigger headache, you don't take more aspirin or find another wall, you stop the head banging!

Millions use recreational drugs all their lives, Keith Richards is a high profile using survivor. You don't hear about most of them because they obviously value their freedom!

The evidence for that statement is in the fact that EVERY WEEK in Thailand alone, millions of dollars worth of drugs are seized, so where are all the dead addicts, either here, or anywhere else?

Even in the so called grip of the ice 'epidemic' once a month we have a drug related murder or death in the news, at best.

About the same as similar alcohol tragedies. Compare that to traffic statistics, not just here but anywhere.

Now consider Portugal again. And the drug problem suddenly looks entirely self-made by the paradox of fighting drugs!

Drug use does NOT inevitably lead to death by addiction, no more than even moderately heavy drinking inevitably leads to death by alcoholism, it's a lie.

And the relatively few addicts legalisation produces are more likely to be SAVED when they can access enough clean doses to keep them functional. You cannot say you don't care about addicts when your friend was one, can you?

I am saying that prohibition, your answer to the problem, failed to save him. And you simply cannot deny that, prohibition is the response in Thailand, and he's dead. ?

[Small Joke]

4 hours ago, happy chappie said:

 

Oh yes Portugal.where most of the drug users left and flooded the likes of my city in the uk and started dealing and using drugs.your a fool that likes to read figures and come to your own conclusions but throughout the years I have seen many people die,families ruined and others not capable of leading a normal life.so your idea of legalising drugs sucks I'm a afraid to say.

 

I'll stop now, and let all but the dimmest of readers on TV draw their own conclusions.

You never even looked at the Reuters article on Thailand, much less anything else, did you? 

 

I was once very anti-drug, and like yourself, I lost a mate to drugs in 1995 -but I got an education.

Alas, you're not to be swayed, to the point of inventing some fantastical BS about 'drug migrants' from Portugal, I actually laughed out loud! 

 

Most prohibitionists are not as creative as you.

One was even alpha enough to admit he didn't know certain scientific truths before our debate, and once upon a time, neither did I.

 

It takes courage -and a certain amount of smarts, to realise there's always more to what we think we know.

Does the fact that the Royal College of Physicians call for legalising heroin impact on you at ANY level? 

Or is this all about realising you've pretty much publicly denounced them as 'morons'? 

 

[happy chappie]

18 hours ago, Small Joke said:

 

I'll stop now, and let all but the dimmest of readers on TV draw their own conclusions.

You never even looked at the Reuters article on Thailand, much less anything else, did you? 

 

I was once very anti-drug, and like yourself, I lost a mate to drugs in 1995 -but I got an education.

Alas, you're not to be swayed, to the point of inventing some fantastical BS about 'drug migrants' from Portugal, I actually laughed out loud! 

 

Most prohibitionists are not as creative as you.

One was even alpha enough to admit he didn't know certain scientific truths before our debate, and once upon a time, neither did I.

 

It takes courage -and a certain amount of smarts, to realise there's always more to what we think we know.

Does the fact that the Royal College of Physicians call for legalising heroin impact on you at ANY level? 

Or is this all about realising you've pretty much publicly denounced them as 'morons'? 

 

Any drugs that are legalised will go down the same road as opioids which are legal and are misused and killing more people in America than guns and road accidents every day.the proof is in the pudding and I rest my case.