LAMPANG police seized 5 million methamphetamine pills from a pickup truck parked in the jungle after which chased and arrested a five-member Hmong hilltribe drug trafficking gang, Thai Rath newspaper said this afternoon (May 24).
Pol. Lt. Gen. Prachuap Wongsuk, head of Region 5 police, and Lampang Governor Mr. Narongsak Osotthanakorn said at a press conference that the five suspects, Mr. Panuwat Thada- sirikulchai, 24, Mr. Chai Sae Wang, 28, Mr. Noo Sae Lee, 31, Mr. Chalerm Anantsiri, 28 and Mr. Charoenporn Sae Wang, 24, were all from Tak province.
Three pickup trucks were seized with one of them a brand new one with a red licence plate.
Mae Phrik police station officers had been tipped off that these three pickup trucks were suspiciously parked at a jungle near Mae Tang village in Phra Bat Wang Tuang sub-district.
A team of police officers went to check and upon reaching the village the driver of the new pickup truck quickly drove off to the jungle. Police followed close behind and later found the new pickup truck as well as another one parked there. Within the second pickup truck was found the 5 million meth pills
They then hunted for the drivers and managed to catch two of them, Panuwat and Chai, who confessed that they collected the large amount of meth pills from Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai province for delivery in Ayutthaya province.
Further investigation led to the arrest of the other three suspects and seizure of one more pickup truck.
CAPTION:
Lampang police display the large cache of meth pills they had seized. Photo: Thai Rath
