Suspect shot down in city drug raid

Khanathit Srihirundaj,

Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai

The Nation

Police seize a Jeep that was used to carry about 1.5 million methamphetamine tablets into a townhouse in Bangkok early yesterday. Police launched a raid to seize the shipment before it flowed into the inner zones of the capital.

BANGKOK: -- Police yesterday shot dead a drug suspect during an operation to stop the transport of 1.5 million methamphetamine tablets into inner Bangkok. The shipment could have fetched Bt450 million on the street.

Suthi Suwanyusiri, 36, sustained six gunshot wounds and succumbed just outside the townhouse where the cache was found.

"When he saw police, he jumped out of the house and opened fire," Pol Maj-General Suraphon Tuantong said in his capacity as deputy chief of the National Police Office's Narcotics Suppression Bureau.

His accomplice, Sittichai Krudtiang, did not try to flee or fight back. Also present in the house were Sitthichai's wife, their child and another young relative.

"I am paid Bt20,000 each time I help him [suthi] by driving a drug-loaded car to a destination," Sittichai said. "I've done it many times before."

Suraphon said police had been monitoring the duo's movements for a month and it was clear they were engaged in drug trafficking.

In the wee hours of yesterday, Suthi drove a pickup truck to the rented townhouse where Sittichai was staying.

Sittichai got into the truck and headed for the Pattavikorn Market, where he got out and jumped into another vehicle that was loaded with the illicit drugs and had its engine running.

"Sittichai then drove the Jeep back to his house and started hiding the methamphetamine tablets when we decided to move in," Suraphon said.

National Police Commissioner General Priewphan Damapong said this huge amount of methamphetamine tablets came from the North and they were about to be sold in inner Bangkok.

"Available evidence suggests that this gang is linked to drug traffickers in the Klong Toei area," he said.

Sittichai said he met Suthi at Khao Prik Prison in Nakhon Ratchasima, where they were both serving jail terms.

Corrections Department director-general Suchart Wong-ananchai yesterday reckoned that at least 200 inmates at the Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison might have been involved in drugs.

"Of them, 26 are very likely key traffickers, so we decided to transfer them to various other high-security correctional facilities," Suchart said.

He said there are about 5,000 inmates at the prison and only 160 wardens.

"We suspect that some inmates may have successfully hidden their mobile phones somewhere in the prison, so we have decided to use signal-jamming devices," Suchart said.

He added that he had assigned Corrections Department deputy director-general Kobkiat Kasiwiwat to draw up an efficient plan for preventing inmates and wardens from engaging in illegal activities.

"We will pay close attention to the shop and medical room at the prison," Suchart said.

An investigation is ongoing to determine how many corrupt wardens have helped inmates get banned items such as mobile phones for use at the prison.

-- The Nation 2012-08-25

Nothing lost and everything gained. Good job by the BIB.

Any chance of a major drug dealer giving evidence about those further up the chain permanently eliminated, and no loss of profits for the manufacturers. Great job.

Good job. I hope their investigations in the jails yeild more results to help get this disgusting problem off our streets.I know we will never stop it completely, but these mongrels pushing death at our kids are the scum of the earth.

Good job. I hope their investigations in the jails yeild more results to help get this disgusting problem off our streets.I know we will never stop it completely, but these mongrels pushing death at our kids are the scum of the earth.

Dealers pushing to kids? more like the kids seeking out the dealers...As OzMick intimated, the core issue is identifying & prosecuting the financiers, people providing protection to the major distributors and the manufacturers; using Thai speak "influential persons"

The usual lamentable standard of reporting from The Nation. Who in their right mind drives a Jeep into a house? Was it through the front door or just crash through a wall? The dead guy jumped out of the house? From what floor? Was it the long jump, hop, skip and jump or wam he just practicing for the high jump he was heading towards? Such lack of detail allows my addled mind to wander away from the main thrust of the article which was about ........ Oh, I remember now, a large drug haul.

It is worth noting that BIB has watched this pair for a month presumably to gather what they like to call cast iron evidence. If they had looked a little harder maybe some phu yai might have been heading towards an inactive post at absolute minimum. Thinking outside of the box. I'm not allowed out of it you understand but the visiting hours are fairly generous, if this shipment had hit the streets could the proceeds end up in the fund of some crook to ensure re-election next time round? It would be a pretty neat trick to bribe people with their own money, well some of them anyway. Wouldn't that save one of the political parties the trouble of dipping into their pockets?

I apologise in advance for this display of my highly developed and active sense of the ridiculous. My excuse is that the Valium hasn't started to work yet and I'm only halfway down my first coffee of the day. This post has however been vetted by Matron.

The government should start selling yaba, licensed shops, register users, computerized system and allow a maximum purchase per day, week month etc. The government would make millions and the illicit trade would disappear overnight.

So now the question begs - who gets the stash and how many ways is it divided and how much will actually be destroyed. This should be a very 'public' display - for the record of course.

Edited August 25, 201214 yr by asiawatcher

The government should start selling yaba, licensed shops, register users, computerized system and allow a maximum purchase per day, week month etc. The government would make millions and the illicit trade would disappear overnight.

Daft.

Methamphetamine RUINS peoples' brains, irreparably. More violent behavior is attributed to it than any other drug, period.

Now if you were talking about marijuana, or even heroin, I would agree, IF there was a proviso for a treatment option for those who want to quit (effective mental health care). But to legalize that poison? Please...

The government should start selling yaba, licensed shops, register users, computerized system and allow a maximum purchase per day, week month etc. The government would make millions and the illicit trade would disappear overnight.

Yaba has so many positive attributes, such as......................give me a while, I'm sure I'll think of some.

And nobody would ever think of registering as a user and selling on to addicts, school children or whoever else had the readies.

How did he see to drive with all that stuff on the bonnet, oh wait, it's Thailand!

The government should start selling yaba, licensed shops, register users, computerized system and allow a maximum purchase per day, week month etc. The government would make millions and the illicit trade would disappear overnight.

I suggest you think before posting.

Your statements are nonsensical. You want the government to invest just as much if not more in the provision of toxic chemicals. in order for your distribution system to work, there would have to be enforcement, which would create the same situation as exists now. BTW, how do you propose that the addicts will pay for their drugs?

Really, you do need to take some time to think this through.

Looks like its been packaged in a factory by machinery.

Meaning to say this is large scale production and packageing

with large scale shipping and distrubution of this pioson.

This is not some small time dealer/cook, cooking up some batch of speed (yaabaa)

now would like too see it distroyed by pooring it in a bath of hydrochloric acid

instead of burning it and releasing it into the air.

The government should start selling yaba, licensed shops, register users, computerized system and allow a maximum purchase per day, week month etc. The government would make millions and the illicit trade would disappear overnight.

People not using drogs will go and buy their shares and selling it to a higher price, another form of drog dealing.