Police in northern Thailand have seized 62 million methamphetamine pills in the last five months, according to statistics released this week by Provincial Police Region 5.
The most recent major seizure involved 6 million pills in a drug suppression drive in Mae Chan district of Chiang Rai on March 2, said Pol Lt Gen Piya Tawichai, Provincial Police Region 5 commissioner.
The action followed a tip-off from informants that a large quantity of meth pills would be delivered in two pickups, one with Chiang Mai and the other with Chiang Rai registration plates, that were on the way from Mae Fa Luang to Mae Chan district.
In Mae Chan district, police spotted the two pickups and began following them in their vehicles. The Chiang Rai-registered pickup took one road to Chiang Saen district while the Chiang Mai-registered truck kept heading for Mae Chan district. The police split in two teams and continued with the chase.
On the road to Mae Chan, the Chiang Mai-registered pickup stopped near a rubber plantation. Two men jumped off and fled into the forest, leaving the vehicle behind. The police found 30 bags containing 6 million meth pills in the abandoned vehicle.
The other pickup was later found abandoned on the roadside, with nobody in it. It was brought to the Mae Chan police station for examination.
The seizure brought to 62 million the number of meth pills found by Region 5 police from Oct 1 last year to March 7 this year, Pol Lt Gen Piya said at a briefing on Wednesday. Also seized during the same period were 1,472 kilogrammes of crystal meth or ice, 421kg of ketamine and 1.42kg of heroin in 13,106 drug cases. Authorities froze about 377 million baht worth of drug-related assets for examination, he added.
