Rangers shoot dead drug gang suspect
Published: 13 Sep 2013 at 09.51
A member of a drug trafficking gang was shot dead, 60,000 speed pills seized and two drug mules arrested in two incidents in Chiang Rai on Thursday.
An army ranger task force spotted six each carrying a backpack near Suanpa village in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai. The rangers signalled the men to stop for a search, but they refused and opened fire at them.
The soldiers returned fire and one of the six men was shot dead. A bag containing 40,000 speed pills, two packets of heroin and a grenade were seized. The other five managed to flee.
Authorities believed the men were members of an armed Muser unit led by Lt Col Yi Se.
Local police arrested two Akha hill tribesmen and seized more than 20,000 speed pills at a bus terminal in Chiang Rai.
The two suspects - Arphor sae Mue and Permpu Puchengkor - were about to board a bus when they were caught. Police found 22,000 speed pills hidden in fruit and snack packets in their bags.
The suspects allegedly confessed they had been paid 55,000 baht by a man identified only as Amnuay, an aide of Lt Col Yi Se, to deliver the drugs to Rangsit in Pathum Thani.
