Nationwide raids target drug kingpin’s networks

Jirat was arrested in Nonthaburi province last September while Thip-apa – who was linked to the drug ring allegedly led by Laotian Xaysana Keopimpha – was arrested in Udon Thani earlier this week. Xaysana was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport last January. As part of the operation, codenamed “Chaiya Sayop Pairee 61/2”, 18 locations in Bangkok and its vicinity were searched yesterday, and officers impounded properties and assets worth Bt100 million reportedly belonging to Jirat’s network, Sommai said. 

Among the targeted sites were two condominiums and a house in Bangkok linked to Jirat’s brother-in-law, Thaweesak Phurungreung, 47, who allegedly helped manage and launder Jirat’s ill-gotten assets and was wanted under an arrest warrant issued last month on the charge of aiding drug trafficking. However, no suspected or illegal item was found. 
At a three-storey house in Phra Nakhon district’s Wang Burapha area, Thaweesak’s younger brother Krisada showed Sommai and officers two safe boxes, in which Thaweesak often deposited valuables, and the officers found 21 registered pistols, which they seized for further investigation. 
Thaweesak is believed to be still lying low in Thailand. Sommai said that the arrest on Monday night of 31-year-old Thip-apa, who was married to a highway policeman of lieutenant-colonel rank, also led to the discovery of a Toyota Wish car with a secret compartment that could be used to hide money or narcotics from her house in Udon Thani province. 
Her network allegedly smuggled drugs from Laos into Thailand via Nong Khai and then to Songkhla for transport to a third country, he said. 
Thip-apa’s network is allegedly linked to 500 kilograms of marijuana seized in Songkhla last October. Police are inquiring as to whether her policeman husband had advised her on how to avoid detection, he added. 

The NSB would hold a press conference detailing the operation’s results today, he said.
During Jirat’s arrest at his home in Nonthaburi last September, officers seized Bt2 million in cash from a safe-deposit box and a bankbook indicating a further Bt60 million was in circulation. Jirat’s arrest stemmed from the police seizure of 1 million “yaba” pills and 400 kilograms of “ice” crystal methamphetamine in 2016 that he had allegedly ordered from the North to be distributed in the South and Central Thailand. 
Jirat –a member of the same drug-dealing network as female Myanmar drug suspect Min Thein Aye, who was also arrested in Bangkok last November – was using disposable phone SIM cards allegedly supplied by people from neighbouring countries, making it difficult for police to trace him.