Thai police cripple international drug syndicate, arrest Malaysian man

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BANGKOK: Thai police scored a major success in its battle against an international drug syndicate with the arrest of a Malaysian man, whom they believed played a key role in smuggling hundreds of kilogrammes of ‘Ice’,  a type of Methaphetamine drugs, into Malaysia.

The Malaysian man, dubbed ‘Mr T’ from Johor, said the authorities was also responsible for a failed attempt by his two accomplices to smuggle  282kg of ‘Ice’ worth millions of Ringgit into Malaysia via the Sadao border in March last year. ‘Mr T’ man was nabbed at Hatyai airport on Wednesday, upon his arrival from Chiang Rai.

“The two Malaysian men who were arrested with 282kg of ‘Ice’ last year told the authorities that the drug (282kg) belonged to him (Mr T) ,” said the deputy commander of Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) Maj Gen Supakit Srijantaranon in a media conference here yesterday.

The two men, he said, had also informed the authorities that the Johor man had been facilitating between four to five successful drug smuggling attempts into Malaysia, each carrying about 100kg of ‘Ice’ to undisclosed locations in Malaysia.

According to him, Thai police also nabbed a Thai woman and a Taiwan man in Chiang Rai as well as a Thai woman in Chiang Mai yesterday, all believed to be members of the international drug syndicate in follow-up operations.

NSB chief Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk, who was also present during the media conference, said the police believed ‘Mr T’ went to Chiang Rai to place an order for another consignment of drugs.

“The Malaysian man and his Thai wife ran many businesses,” he said.

Meanwhile Supakit said, following the arrest of four people yesterday, the authorities confiscated about 30 million Baht in cash (about RM3.8 million) in several currencies and 20 million Baht in other assets.

Another 20 million Baht in assets was also seized from the same syndicate months ago, bringing the total cash and assets seized from this international syndicate to 70 million Baht (about RM8.8 million), he said.  — Bernama