Four arrested in Nakhon Sawan with 558,000 meth pills
Four men have been arrested at a hotel in Nakhon Sawan by anti-narcotics police while they were allegedly smuggling 558,000 methamphetmine pills from Myanmar to Nonthaburi.
The four suspects were brough to a press conference at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau Saturday. The press conference was held by Pol Maj Gen Thanai Apichartsenee, chief of the operation to intercept drug smuggling attempts.
The four suspects were identified as Phairoj Mahanil, 28, from Chiang Mai, Thongchai Kantha, 29, from Chiang Mai, Thassanai Thamrongchiwin, 23, from Chiang Rai and Suchart Thamrongchiwin, 24, from Chiang Rai.
Police also seized a Hyundai van and Toyota Yaris from the suspects.
Thanai told the press conference that police received tips-off that a gang would travel to Tachilek across from Chiang Rai to smuggle in the drug.
Police then spotted the Hyundai van crossing to Tachilek at 6:30 pm Friday and returning shortly through the Mae Sai border checkpoint.
The Hyundai van was later driven by Phairoj behind the Yaris car on the Phaholyothin Road. When the Yaris car spotted a checkpoint in Phitsanulok, the Hyundai van stopped at a hotel. When police checked it at the hotel in Mueang district, the drug was found in a hidden compartment. Police later arrested the three other suspects in the Yaris car.
Thongchai said he was hired Bt200,000 to deliver the drug to a man identified as Rung in Nonthaburi. He said his gang had already smuggled drug nine times, delivering them in Bangkok and Phitsanulok.