Chinese woman held after major drugs bust in Thailand

BANGKOK, Dec 14, 2012 (AFP) - A Chinese woman and two Thai hill tribesmen were arrested in a raid near Bangkok that netted $800,000-worth of crystal methamphetamine and half a million pills, Thai authorities said Friday.

Acting on a tip off anti-drugs officers arrested Chinese national Xiangye Chen and two men from Thailand's remote, hilly northern border areas, on the outskirts of the Thai capital on Thursday.

A search of a house rented by the trio uncovered 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of crystal meth -- also known as Ice -- and 500,000 methamphetamine tablets inside two large suitcases, the Office of Narcotics Control Board said.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who is leading a nationwide drug crackdown, told reporters the suspects admitted bringing the drugs into Thailand from an unnamed neighbouring country.

"These drugs are to sell in the central provinces (of Thailand)," Chalerm said.

A UN Office on Drugs and Crime report published this week said seizures of crystal meth in Thailand had surged to 1.2 tonnes in 2011, a 75 percent increase on the previous year.

The report blamed trafficking from drug production hubs in Iran and Myanmar. It said Myanmar is at the heart of a growing narcotics crisis in Asia that threatens public security.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-12-14

Say it not so, Hub of Ice

Who had the meaningless job of counting the tablets, why can't they say 40 kgs of tablets or does 500,000 make it sound like a bigger bust?

Anyway drugs will never go away until the ones at the top are caught and they are never caught because they are untouchable.

An un-named neighbouring country eh?

A choice of either Iran or Miyanmar. Leaves me undecided but with Chalerm on the case it'll be as cracked wide open as he is. This must be the first time anyone has bought drugs into Thailand since he last stopped it. How dare they!

Clever people those chinese. Being able to converse with hill tribe's people. Boggles the mind. They fly in, get up in the hills back of Chiang Rai and reel off some local patois like a native.

Amazing! Thailand!

What puzzles me though in good man chalerm's report is that if they were to sell to the central provinces - why were they all the way down near bangkok?

Perhaps they'd already sold masses of their wares and what the police found was merely the left overs.

I don't think for a moment that they were followed all the way to Bangkok, had their goods disappear inot thin air - that's thai police thin air - and then a bust is made.

Not on Chalerm's watch!

There no drugs in Thailand. Even Boots the chemists are getting low on paracetamol as life here is just one big headache.

Great job on a huge haul of dangerous drugs..

admitted bringing the drugs into Thailand from an unnamed neighbouring country.

<deleted>?!?!?!...."yes we brought this "ice" to Bangkok so we could sell it in central Thailand, but we won't tell you what country we brought it from"

Every day they confiscate drugs. What they do with this drugs? Return to the market under a new company?

Every day they confiscate drugs. What they do with this drugs? Return to the market under a new company?

add something to the drugs with an unpleasant side effect and put them back in the distribution chain.

Or gps tag some of the transport vehicles and shut down the network all along the way

Who had the meaningless job of counting the tablets, why can't they say 40 kgs of tablets or does 500,000 make it sound like a bigger bust?

Anyway drugs will never go away until the ones at the top are caught and they are never caught because they are untouchable.

The pill's are not counted individually as such they are packed into blue bags of 200's. If the tablets are not prepacked then they will weight say 1000 and work out the number from the gross weight.

The number of tablets is disclosed rather than the weight simply because people can relate to it easier. What sounds more 10 g's of crystal meth or 200 yabba? they are in fact about the same. I do agree that everything is done to dramatize any bust I love the way the 'value' of a bust is based of street prices for 0.1 g bags not wholesale of kilo's.

Before the BS comments come in about how I know this its only a Google click away.....

Every day they confiscate drugs. What they do with this drugs? Return to the market under a new company?

add something to the drugs with an unpleasant side effect and put them back in the distribution chain.

Or gps tag some of the transport vehicles and shut down the network all along the way

Sadly you have a lot to learn about the importation and distribution of narcotics in Thailand. How do the BiB's earning around 10k THB/month drive around in luxury cars!

Edited December 15, 201213 yr by Para

admitted bringing the drugs into Thailand from an unnamed neighbouring country.

<deleted>?!?!?!...."yes we brought this "ice" to Bangkok so we could sell it in central Thailand, but we won't tell you what country we brought it from"

perhaps it was produced in Thailand and he didn't want to say, remember all those pills that went missing from hospitals - shouldn't be too hard to track them down considering they now have the source and the end product with a huge void inbetween that nobody seems to want to expose - I wonder why ?

Just eliminating the competition, thank you.

Just eliminating the competition, thank you.

There is more truth to this statement than most people realize.

Say it not so, Hub of Ice

We need to have a chat. The "hub of xxxxx" jokes are getting to be too much. It wasn't funny the first 1000 times someone said it and it is not getting any funnier.

PLEASE TV, for the LOVE OF MAN,COUNTRY,AND GOD STOP WITH ALL THE "HUB OF XXXXX" JOKES! ! !

That is all.

Say it not so, Hub of Ice

We need to have a chat. The "hub of xxxxx" jokes are getting to be too much. It wasn't funny the first 1000 times someone said it and it is not getting any funnier.

PLEASE TV, for the LOVE OF MAN,COUNTRY,AND GOD STOP WITH ALL THE "HUB OF XXXXX" JOKES! ! !

That is all.

How about Thailand the hub of unfunny hub jokes? Will that work?

How about ..... "Amazing Thailand" ....... with that Thai elevator music playing in the background

Say it not so, Hub of Ice

We need to have a chat. The "hub of xxxxx" jokes are getting to be too much. It wasn't funny the first 1000 times someone said it and it is not getting any funnier.

PLEASE TV, for the LOVE OF MAN,COUNTRY,AND GOD STOP WITH ALL THE "HUB OF XXXXX" JOKES! ! !

That is all.

An un-named neighbouring country eh?

A choice of either Iran or Miyanmar. Leaves me undecided but with Chalerm on the case it'll be as cracked wide open as he is. This must be the first time anyone has bought drugs into Thailand since he last stopped it. How dare they!

Clever people those chinese. Being able to converse with hill tribe's people. Boggles the mind. They fly in, get up in the hills back of Chiang Rai and reel off some local patois like a native.

Amazing! Thailand!

What puzzles me though in good man chalerm's report is that if they were to sell to the central provinces - why were they all the way down near bangkok?

Perhaps they'd already sold masses of their wares and what the police found was merely the left overs.

I don't think for a moment that they were followed all the way to Bangkok, had their goods disappear inot thin air - that's thai police thin air - and then a bust is made.

Not on Chalerm's watch!

There no drugs in Thailand. Even Boots the chemists are getting low on paracetamol as life here is just one big headache.

What puzzles me though in good man chalerm's report is that if they were to sell to the central provinces - why were they all the way down near bangkok?

Perhaps that's because Bangkok is among the central provinces with the greatest population density?

"

Say it not so, Hub of Ice

We need to have a chat. The "hub of xxxxx" jokes are getting to be too much. It wasn't funny the first 1000 times someone said it and it is not getting any funnier.

PLEASE TV, for the LOVE OF MAN,COUNTRY,AND GOD STOP WITH ALL THE "HUB OF XXXXX" JOKES! ! !

That is all.

Amazing Thailand, hub of man, country, and God jokes.

Every day they confiscate drugs. What they do with this drugs? Return to the market under a new company?

add something to the drugs with an unpleasant side effect and put them back in the distribution chain.

Or gps tag some of the transport vehicles and shut down the network all along the way

Oh please, do you really think the thai police could make that work? "Gps tag, arai na?"

50 kilos is nothing compared to "1.2 tonnes in 2011." It's a step forward in a marathon against criminals.

50 kilos is nothing compared to "1.2 tonnes in 2011." It's a step forward in a marathon against criminals.

Yes, and Mr. Ear Drops is the forerunner

Drugs are bad mmmmmmmmmmmkay

Every day they confiscate drugs. What they do with this drugs? Return to the market under a new company?

add something to the drugs with an unpleasant side effect and put them back in the distribution chain.

Or gps tag some of the transport vehicles and shut down the network all along the way

Oh please, do you really think the thai police could make that work? "Gps tag, arai na?"

more likely they would not want to kill one of their income sources

Who had the meaningless job of counting the tablets, why can't they say 40 kgs of tablets or does 500,000 make it sound like a bigger bust?

Anyway drugs will never go away until the ones at the top are caught and they are never caught because they are untouchable.

Actually the scales they use count them. You put one pill on the scales and it "remembers" the weight of one pill. You put 1240 times that weight on the scales, it reads out 1240 which tells you there are 1240 pills on the scales. These are commonly used in places when small pieces are sold in bulk, such as nuts, washers, lock nuts etc.

An un-named neighbouring country eh?

A choice of either Iran or Miyanmar. Leaves me undecided but with Chalerm on the case it'll be as cracked wide open as he is. This must be the first time anyone has bought drugs into Thailand since he last stopped it. How dare they!

Clever people those chinese. Being able to converse with hill tribe's people. Boggles the mind. They fly in, get up in the hills back of Chiang Rai and reel off some local patois like a native.

Amazing! Thailand!

What puzzles me though in good man chalerm's report is that if they were to sell to the central provinces - why were they all the way down near bangkok?

Perhaps they'd already sold masses of their wares and what the police found was merely the left overs.

I don't think for a moment that they were followed all the way to Bangkok, had their goods disappear inot thin air - that's thai police thin air - and then a bust is made.

Not on Chalerm's watch!

There no drugs in Thailand. Even Boots the chemists are getting low on paracetamol as life here is just one big headache.

It boggles the mind that you could consider Iran a "neighboring" country. It's 4 or 5 countries away, including across a huge country in India, and I don't know, 4,000 or 5,000 miles away?

edit: I see it was the original report that mentioned Iran. Nevermind!

Edited December 16, 201213 yr by Jimjim