Second ‘drug mule’ body found after Chiang Rai shootout
Police on Tuesday found a second body near a spot in Chiang Rai where a gunfight had broken out late on Monday, raising the death toll among a band of suspected drug mules to two.
Police also checked the 24 bags left by the alleged traffickers and found 2.692 million methamphetamine pills, 60 kilograms of crystal meth, or “ice”, and 10 packs of heroin.
Initially, narcotics suppression police found only one body after a 15-minute shootout with drug suspects at the border with Myanmar in Ban Bor Thong village, in Mueang district’s Tambon Tha Sood, at 10pm on Monday.
But when police searched the area again on Tuesday morning, the second body was discovered about 20 metres from the spot where the first body had been found.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of narcotics suppression police had been patrolling the border at 10pm on Monday when they spotted about 20 men emerging from the border forest near a reservoir.
Police said the group of men opened fire when they saw police, leading to a 15-minute shootout before they fled back into the forest.