‘Drug mule’ shot dead, 6m meth pills seized in intercept operation in Chiang Rai province

By Natthawat Laping, 
Pratheep Nanthaparp 
The Nation

 

 

 

An alleged drug mule was shot dead and 6.1 million methamphetamine pills seized following a pre-dawn clash between a combined police-military team and a group of drug couriers in the border area of the northern province of Chiang Rai on Tuesday.

 

The 3am drug-intercept operation, directed by Narcotics Suppression Bureau chief Pol Lt- General Chinnaphat Sarasin, was conducted following a tip-off about an alleged drug-trafficking network’s smuggling of narcotics into Thailand using a Mitsubishi pickup truck via Tambon Rim Khong in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district.

 

Officers spotted the loaded truck suspiciously cruising the area overlapping Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong districts, with a motorcycle being ridden in front of it. 

 

The officers tailed the vehicles until Tambon Nong Pa Kor in Doi Luang district and attempted to get the truck – driven by Anucha Pakit-udom, 25 – to pull over for a search, but Anucha tried to speed away and reportedly opened fire at the officers, resulting in a gunfight. 

 

He was shot dead at the scene, while his accomplices fled. 

 

Officers, who found 30 backpacks containing 6.1 million meth pills in the truck, were trying to locate more accomplices and seize their ill-gotten assets.

 

Meanwhile, in a separate drug bust in the neighbouring province of Lampang’s Thoen district, police were alerted by a local on Tuesday and seized 7,003,600 meth pills in 23 sacks and an unidentified amount of crystal meth, or “ice”, in an Isuzu pickup truck that had been abandoned in a wooded area of Ban Maewa Denchau (Moo 5) in Tambon Mae Wa. 

 

Thoen superintendent Pol Colonel Kanit Prasansuk said police suspected the haul might have come from the same smuggled batch as the 4 million meth pills and 600 kilograms of ice that were intercepted in Mae Prik district on November 30. 

 

He said the four suspects arrested in that operation had said the group had actually travelled in six trucks, two of which were carrying the drugs and the others either leading to scout the way ahead or tailing for protection. 

 

On Friday, police only managed to seize three of the six trucks, while the others were speedily driven away.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30359826

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-4

Bravo. 6 million, 4 million, xxx million, xxx kg of meth !!!!

Get this crap off the streets. 

And get the king pins. 

The general is to soft

Just do what Duterte and Thaksin did shoot them on site. No court! If your carrying you die

35 minutes ago, madmen said:

The general is to soft

Just do what Duterte and Thaksin did shoot them on site. No court! If your carrying you die

They did just that.

They did just that.

After they opened fire. Most big busts shows cops pointing at suspects so it's a bit late to execute them

3rd world and developing countries have the luxury of making up rules so they should be killing these guys for the next 10 years. 1st world its to late

10 minutes ago, madmen said:

3rd world and developing countries have the luxury of making up rules so they should be killing these guys for the next 10 years. 1st world its to late

Have to disagree with this. As long as there's human beings on this planet, many of them will want to use drugs no matter what. Legalization is the only way to go.

Millions of meth pills being intercepted every day (more or less) and I bet it is just the "tip of the iceberg". There are factories across the border in Myanmar that produce the pills on an industrial scale.

13 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

Millions of meth pills being intercepted every day (more or less) and I bet it is just the "tip of the iceberg". There are factories across the border in Myanmar that produce the pills on an industrial scale.

I agree, they probably only get 10%. For all we know these seizures are arranged to throw a bone at authorities (so they appear that they're on top of it). The Chinese just announced that they're making fentanyl a controlled substance, after making  100's of billions in North America and killing 10's of thousands by overdose. There's whole towns churning out this crap. No such announcement was made concerning the manufacture of precursors for meth. Coupled with no enforcement of laws concerning these labs in Myanmar, it's a licence to print money. There's nothing Thailand or the rest of Asia can do about it and killing mules at the border will have zero effect. There's 10 mules ready to take the place for every one that is killed so the whole enforcement exercise is pointless. Unless a radical approach is considered this is one nightmare S.E. Asia will never wake up from.