Large cache of drugs seized in Chiang Mai after six killed in gunfight with soldiers
Six alleged guards of a drug caravan were shot dead and two others wounded in a gunfight with soldiers in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district yesterday.
The men were allegedly trying to smuggle 554,000 “yaba” pills, 15 kilograms of heroin and one kilogram of raw opium into Thailand from Myanmar.
The officials seized 10 backpacks that carried the drugs and an AK-47 rifle, while an unknown number of suspects fled the scene.
Pha Muang Task Force commander Maj-General Jiradech Kamolphetch led officers to inspect the scene of the gunfight in Tambon Tha Ton.
He said an initial investigation prior to the recent gunfight had found that drugs were to be moved early this month through Doi Sam Sao to Chiang Rai’s Mae Chan district via Ban Huai San.
Officers began staking out the area on December 5 and yesterday morning encountered an unknown group of men carrying backpacks, which aroused suspicions.
When soldiers asked to search the men’s backpacks, at least one suspect opened fire while others tried to flee, resulting in a 15-minute gunfight, he said.