Five held on drug charges in Thailand

BANGKOK, September 1, 2011 (AFP) - Thai police on Thursday said they had arrested three Malaysian men and two Thai women on drug trafficking charges, after recovering methamphetamine with a street value of about $3 million.

Police confiscated 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of the drug, also known as "ice", inside three suitcases destined for Malaysia in an operation in Songkhla province near the Malaysian border on Wednesday.

The methamphetamine was estimated to have a street value of around 2 million baht ($66,700) per kilogram in Malaysia.

Police believe the two Thai women, aged 30 and 31, and one of the Malaysian suspects transported the drugs by public bus from Bangkok to near the border, where they met the other two men and transferred the bags into a passenger car.

They were arrested following a tip off from an informant.

The Malaysian nationals, aged 25, 28 and 19, are all from Kedah state, in northwest Malaysia.

Thailand, along with other countries in the region, has seen a marked increase in seizures of methamphetamine in recent years.

Drug trafficking can result in the death penalty in Thailand, although executions are now rare.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-09-01

Three Malaysians, two Thais arrested with 45kgs of 'ice'

Operatives from Narcotics Suppression Police 3 and Provincial Police Region 9 Thursday caught three Malaysian men aged 1928 and two Thai women in their 30s in Songkhla's Sadao district while allegedly trying to transport 45kg of crystal meth worth Bt145 million to Malaysia.

The five suspects maintained their innocence, but police believe they got the crystal meth from the North, stored the consignment in Bangkok and took it to Sadao for smuggling across the border.

-- The Nation 2011-09-01