Officers detained three individuals on Thursday after receiving a tip and finding 688 kilograms of crystal meth in three pickup trucks.
In less than a week, Thai police have reportedly recovered 1.1 tons of crystal methamphetamine, according to authorities, as the nation pushes down on smuggling, which has increased since the country’s borders were reopened.
The find comes after a rise in fights between police and drug smugglers in the remote north of the kingdom, which has long been a center for the trade in illegal drugs.
Police detained 10 Thai nationals in a series of searches in the north and south of the country as a result of a tip-off.
The discovery of certain illegal stimulants concealed in tea and coffee bags led to the seizure of more than a tonne of crystal meth in less than a week, according to Thai police on Tuesday. (Image courtesy of AFP/Lillian Suwanrumpha)
The Deputy National Police Chief, Police General Chinnapat Sarasin, said, “Some of these drugs were kept for a while before being taken to the southernmost provinces, and they were supposed to be sent to other countries later.”
Although the COVID epidemic has stopped traffickers from transferring their goods, he claimed that Thailand was “surrounded by hotspots for the manufacture of drugs.”
The pent-up products are simply being sent in continuously now that the country has been reopened, he claimed.
An international drug gang, according to a statement from the police, was responsible for the illegal trade.
In the first operation, police conducted two raids in the southern Thai provinces of Phatthalung and Surat Thani, where they discovered 731 kilograms (1,600 pounds) of crystal meth, also known as “ice,” on the streets.
Officers detained three guys on Thursday after receiving a tip that led to the discovery of 688 kilos of crystal meth hidden inside three pickup trucks. The drugs were likely trafficked into Thailand’s northeast before being moved south.
On January 24, 2023, during a press conference at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau in Bangkok, packages of crystal methamphetamine were seen exhibited on a table. (Image courtesy of AFP/Lillian Suwanrumpha)
Police arrested four more people after they found 43 kilograms of the drug being sold through the popular Thai messaging app LINE.
On Sunday, a second guy was detained in the northern Chiang Rai Province as he planned to deliver about 300 kg of ice to Satun while concealing it in tea bags.
Finally, once the drugs were discovered concealed in coffee bag packaging, some 114 kilos were seized in the central provinces of Nakhon Sawan and Patum Thani. They detained two males.
A report from the United Nations says that meth is taking over Southeast Asia, and in 2021, officials in Asia seized a record billion pills.
