Rangers seize drugs after shootout near Mae Sai
ARMY PARAMILITARY rangers have seized 4,000 amphetamine tablets and a number of firearms after engaging in a gunfight in Chiang Rai with drug couriers, who fled the scene.
The gunfight, which involved about 10 members of a drug caravan, took place on Sunday. Police later apprehended three men with gunshot wounds at a local hospital the next day, and would interview them to find out whether they were part of the drug caravan.
On Sunday night, a team from the 3108th rangers company detected movement of drug caravans in a stakeout at a border crossing in Mae Sai district. The men, likely belonging to hilltribes across the border, opened fire when told to stop.
The rangers returned fire in a five-minute shootout, before the men appeared to withdraw. The rangers waited until dawn to clear the area and found out all the men were gone, and left the 4,000 tablets at the scene along with an assault rifle and a home-made short shotgun.
In another operation yesterday morning, soldiers and police jointly arrested a man at Tachilek checkpoint who had in his possession a 380-gram bar of heroin. There are no details about the identity or nationality of the suspect, who is now in custody of Mae Sai police in Thailand.