Massive haul of drugs seized in raids in Samut Sakhon and Bangkok
Police have seized more than six million methamphetamine pills, 600 kilograms of crystal meth or "ice", 44 bars of heroin weighing 15.4 kilograms, and 51 kilograms of ketamine in two separate drug busts in Samut Sakhon and in Bangkok, national police deputy commissioner Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan announced to the press at the Patrol and Special Operation Division office in Bangkok on Sunday.
In the first case and following a tip off by informant that drug dealers would collect a large haul of narcotics last week from a mall in Samut Sakhon for transport to the deep South, police put a stakeout in place and arrested eight suspects. They were later named as Muhammad Buddhakhun, 29, Anucha Binyosuh, 33, Surathee Surarat, 27, Polrat Chansiri, 22, Pairat Jansaman, 41, Chaithat Plaikaew, 26, and Kitisak Daengprasert, 27, and a female accomplice Jutharat Sirikhun, 26, Chalermkiat said.
On July 12, officers arrested Surathee, Polrat, Pairat, Muhammad and Anuch and seized 550 kilograms of “ice” that was hidden in tea packages in a pick-up truck parked at the mall. The officers then extended their search to a house in Bangkok’s Bang Khun Thien district and nabbed Jutharat along with 50 kilograms of "ice", 5,619,800 meth pills, 44 bars of heroin (15.4 kilograms), and 51 kilograms of ketamine. Police arrested two more accomplices, namely Chaithat and Kittisak, the following day.
In the second case and acting on a tip-off about a Pathum Thani-based drug gang's drug delivery in Nonthaburi's Sai Noi district, police seized 898,000 meth pills in the early hours of July 1 but the suspects managed to escape the arrest, the senior officer told reporters.