Jails filled after spike in drug busts
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Five Hmong men were arrested along with 700,000 'yaba' pills and 30 kilograms of crystal meth or 'ice' in Chiang Rai's Muang district, Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) secretarygeneral Pol General Pongsapat Pongcharoen, said yesterday.
The men aged 2134 were apprehended as they drove in a twopickup convoy allegedly to transport drugs at Sri Sai Mul Intersection in tambon Rob Wiang. Pongsapat said the five told police they were hired by Hmong people to deliver the drugs in Ayutthaya in exchange for Bt100,000 per person.
Police believe the yaba pills were from a drug ring led by alleged drug lord Lt Col Yi Sae in Myanmar.
Pongsapat said police drug busts have caught 400 hill tribal people smuggling drugs in the past two years, causing a problem with crowded detention cells. The ONCB would ask the Corrections Department and other agencies to separate Hmong and Lahu suspects in a highsecurity facility to prevent their further involvement in drug dealing activities, he said.
