The pick-up truck laden with the drugs. — Bernama photo
BANGKOK: Thai anti-narcotics police arrested two local men and seized 447kg ‘Ice’ (Crystal Methaphetamine) in the southern border town of Hatyai before the drugs could be smuggled across the border into Malaysia.
In confirming the success, Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) chief Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk said the operation, which took place yesterday, also received good cooperation from Malaysian anti-drugs police stationed along the border.
“The drugs were destined for Malaysia first and later to other countries.
“Two men from Hatyai and Narathiwat, aged 22 and 52, were apprehended at about 6.30pm (local time) yesterday while inside a pick-up truck laden with the drugs,” he said when contacted by Bernama yesterday.
Thai authorities had long suspected Hatyai, a bustling town about an hour from the border, was used by the transnational drug syndicates as a transit before the drugs were smuggled across the border into Malaysia.
The ‘Ice’ seized yesterday were believed to have originated from the Golden Triangle, situated along the border of northern Thailand, Myanmar and Laos and widely-known as one of the most active drug-producing regions in the world.
Meanwhile a source also told Bernama that Malaysian anti-drug police in the border had been notified about the attempt to smuggle 447kg of ‘Ice’ into the country.
“If we fail to intercept the drugs (in Thailand), the Malaysian narcotics police are on standby (in Malaysia) to stop the drugs and arrest the men,” he said on cooperation between the two countries to stop transnational drug trafficking.
He added the two detained local men acknowledged they received 100,000 Baht (RM12,000) from a man for their services in transporting the drugs to Hatyai. — Bernama