Phitsanulok sting nets over half-million yaba pills

The arrest of Jeearwat Singto, 33, and his wife Khaneungnit Noppakhun, 24, during the Thursday sting operation and subsequent discovery of a large batch of drugs in the couple’s rice grain storage, followed an April 4 arrest of suspect Natthawuth Watbot, 25, at a motel in Muang Phitsanulok, said Provincial Police Region 6 investigation commander Pol Maj-General Panu Burasasiri.

Natthawuth – who had been nabbed along with 435 yaba pills, 25 grams of “ice” crystal methamphetamine, and a pistol with 25 bullets – had confessed to being a member of a drug-dealing network in the lower north region. The confession led police to probe further until they could conduct a sting operation against the couple, which were alleged as the network’s drug dealers.
Jeerawat was released from jail in January after serving a five-year and nine-month sentence for an unidentified offence, said Panu, who got to know the drug dealing gangsters in prison and, after release from jail, stored drugs at his house pending distribution for the gang.
The latest batch they received was one million yaba pills, about half of which they had already sold, Panu said, adding that Khaneungnit allegedly helped with the accounting. 
Police have identified two more members in the network – namely Tachilek-based agents Chamnan Fakthong-on and Amnat Nutchom – and would soon arrest them too, Panu said.
As the couple reportedly confessed to drug trafficking, police initially charged them with drug trafficking and having narcotics in their possession with intent to sell.