Published: 11/10/2012 at 01:41 AM
Newspaper section: News
Various types of narcotics worth more than 1.2 billion baht were seized in drug operations in Pathum Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Khon Kaen provinces yesterday.
In Pathum Thani, police arrested three men from Chiang Rai after finding 62kg of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, that had been hidden in an impounded car in the police evidence compound.
Pathum Thani police chief Smith Mukdasanit said the drugs have an estimated street value of 200 million baht.
He named the three men as Jasue Jalae, 33, Janu Ja-ue, 39, and Chatree Preechamitrakul, 25.
Pol Maj Gen Smith said a pickup truck belonging to one of the suspects hit a motorcycle last Friday in Pathum Thani's Thanyaburi district.
The suspect fled and abandoned his pickup after the accident. Police impounded the vehicle without realising it was carrying 62kg of ya ice.
On Tuesday night, three men surreptitiously entered the police evidence yard where the vehicle was being kept in an attempt to retrieve the drugs, but disturbed a dog that began barking loudly.
The men hid the drugs, wrapped in five plastic bags, in nearby bushes and fled empty-handed.
Police examined surveillance camera footage and identified the suspects.
About 4am yesterday, the three men returned to where they had stashed the drugs and were arrested by waiting police.
In Prachuap Khiri Khan province, police seized about 182,000 methamphetamine or ya ba pills at a house in Sam Roi Yot district, shortly before they were to be transported to drug traders in Yala.
Prachuap Khiri Khan police chief Tanes Sunthornsuk said authorities received a tip-off that a large amount of ya ba had been smuggled into the province, awaiting transportation to the deep South via Phetchakasem Road.
Police searched a house of Songkran Putthworn, 32, who is wanted on several drug charges, and found a .38 calibre pistol, 1.5g of ya ice, and 136 ya ba pills.
Mr Songkran told police that more illicit drugs were being kept at a house of a suspected major drug dealer called Sak Monjulinthip, 33.
Police searched Mr Sak's house, also in Sam Roi Yot district, and found 182,000 ya ba pills hidden in the water filter.
Mr Sak allegedly confessed that he was hired by his relative, Waebueraheng Niseng, to take the drugs to Yala.
The drugs were to be distributed later to agents in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, the suspect said.
Mr Waebueraheng fled the house before police arrived, Pol Maj Gen Tanes said, adding the seized drugs had a street value of about 37 million baht.
In Khon Kaen, Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen led a raid on a warehouse, located on the Khon Kaen-Chaiyaphum Road in Mancha Khiri district about 12.30am.
The ONCB, Border Patrol Police, and Provincial Police Region 4, have been tracking a Thailand-Laos drug ring, operating in the Northeast.
Inside the warehouse, the authorities found 2,500kg of cannabis, worth about 1 billion baht, said Pol Gen Pongsapat.
Warehouse owner Sukhum Sukkho denied involvement in drug trafficking.
Newspaper section: News
Various types of narcotics worth more than 1.2 billion baht were seized in drug operations in Pathum Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Khon Kaen provinces yesterday.
In Pathum Thani, police arrested three men from Chiang Rai after finding 62kg of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, that had been hidden in an impounded car in the police evidence compound.
Pathum Thani police chief Smith Mukdasanit said the drugs have an estimated street value of 200 million baht.
He named the three men as Jasue Jalae, 33, Janu Ja-ue, 39, and Chatree Preechamitrakul, 25.
Pol Maj Gen Smith said a pickup truck belonging to one of the suspects hit a motorcycle last Friday in Pathum Thani's Thanyaburi district.
The suspect fled and abandoned his pickup after the accident. Police impounded the vehicle without realising it was carrying 62kg of ya ice.
On Tuesday night, three men surreptitiously entered the police evidence yard where the vehicle was being kept in an attempt to retrieve the drugs, but disturbed a dog that began barking loudly.
The men hid the drugs, wrapped in five plastic bags, in nearby bushes and fled empty-handed.
Police examined surveillance camera footage and identified the suspects.
About 4am yesterday, the three men returned to where they had stashed the drugs and were arrested by waiting police.
In Prachuap Khiri Khan province, police seized about 182,000 methamphetamine or ya ba pills at a house in Sam Roi Yot district, shortly before they were to be transported to drug traders in Yala.
Prachuap Khiri Khan police chief Tanes Sunthornsuk said authorities received a tip-off that a large amount of ya ba had been smuggled into the province, awaiting transportation to the deep South via Phetchakasem Road.
Police searched a house of Songkran Putthworn, 32, who is wanted on several drug charges, and found a .38 calibre pistol, 1.5g of ya ice, and 136 ya ba pills.
Mr Songkran told police that more illicit drugs were being kept at a house of a suspected major drug dealer called Sak Monjulinthip, 33.
Police searched Mr Sak's house, also in Sam Roi Yot district, and found 182,000 ya ba pills hidden in the water filter.
Mr Sak allegedly confessed that he was hired by his relative, Waebueraheng Niseng, to take the drugs to Yala.
The drugs were to be distributed later to agents in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, the suspect said.
Mr Waebueraheng fled the house before police arrived, Pol Maj Gen Tanes said, adding the seized drugs had a street value of about 37 million baht.
In Khon Kaen, Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen led a raid on a warehouse, located on the Khon Kaen-Chaiyaphum Road in Mancha Khiri district about 12.30am.
The ONCB, Border Patrol Police, and Provincial Police Region 4, have been tracking a Thailand-Laos drug ring, operating in the Northeast.
Inside the warehouse, the authorities found 2,500kg of cannabis, worth about 1 billion baht, said Pol Gen Pongsapat.
Warehouse owner Sukhum Sukkho denied involvement in drug trafficking.
