Acting Assistant Commissioner-General Pol. Lt. Gen. Decha Bootnampetch was joined by Acting Commissioner of Police Region 5 Pol. Maj. Gen. Poonsub Prasertsak in announcing the resolution of five drug trafficking cases in the North since December 21, 2016. Ten suspects were arrested and 1.61 million amphetamine tablet and 8.6 kg of crystal methamphetamine were seized in the arrests in Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Lampang.
The first arrest occurred in Pai, Mae Hong Son at 6 p.m. on December 21 when police arrested 50 year old Yee Laoyeepa with 10,000 methamphetamine or Yaba pills while the second case occurred on the same day at 10 p.m. in Chiang Rai when police arrested 43 year old Ker Mor and Suksan Choksansiri of Tak with 394,000 Yaba pills and 8.6 kg of Ya Ice or crystal methamphetamine.
The third arrest occurred on December 22 in Chiang Dao when police arrested 39-year-old Mongkolsiri Yalo with 40,000 methamphetamine tablets. Officers stopped the man at the checkpoint as he was behaving suspiciously but found nothing illegal, however when he was released he turned into a garbage dump about 500 meters from the checkpoint and came back with a black plastic bag. Police followed him and he droped the bag on the side of the road and attempted to flee. Police found the drugs in the bag and arrested the man.
On the same day police in Wieng Kan in Chiang Rai found 56,000 methamphetamine tablets after reports of a suspicious truck were received, the truck drove away before the police arrived but they found the drugs on the side of the road.
In Lampang police arrested three suspects; 52-year-old Charoen Aobam from Chiang Mai, 42-year-old Kanchitpol Puthong from Bangkok, and Phutthipoong Kusolpayungkit from Chiang Mai with 1,116,285 Yaba tablets after stopping a tour bus headed to Central Thailand.
Police uncovered drugs hidden in luggage in the lower part of the bus and then arrested three additional suspects with a further amount of Yaba pills in Hang Chat.
Region 5 police said that from the period from October 1 – December 24, 2017 they had arrested 5,446 suspects and seized a total of 8,393,264 amphetamine tablets, 43.39 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 35.75 kg of heroin, 18.17 kg of poppy plants , and 18.78 kg of marijuana. They also seized property with a total value of 8,697,498 baht from drug suspects. Provincial Police Region 5 will continue with stringent checkpoints as drugs are expected to flow south during the busy New Year period.
