Thirteen drug smugglers died during a shootout with the military near the Myanmar border in Mae Fa Luang district on Saturday night.
About 1.7 million methamphetamine pills were seized during the drug suppression operation by the Pha Muang Task Force in Chiang Rai province.
Soldiers found the bodies of 13 people along with 17 sacks containing about 1.7 million speed pills.
According to the army, the shootout between soldiers and the drug gang started at 7pm on Saturday when soldiers attempted to search a group of men they saw walking through a forest.
The men did not stop and opened fire on the patrol, prompting shots aimed back at them from the soldiers.
The soldiers waited until the morning before surveying the location. The sacks stuffed with meth pills were found with the bodies.
Each sack contained about 100,000 meth pills.
