Thai authorities arrested a suspected drug dealer and confiscated more than 3 million methamphetamine tablets near Bangkok, police announced Wednesday.
National police chief Pol Gen Prewpan Dhamapong and Narcotics Suppression Bureau commander Pol Lt-Gen Chaiwat Chotima said at a press conference that the 3.2 million methamphetamine pills were worth nearly THB1 billion.
Sopon Sawaengsuk was arrested at home in Nakhon Pathom, 50km west of Bangkok. Police said he is a member of a major drug smuggling ring in Chiang Rai.
Gen Priewpan intimated that unspecified “authorities” were involved in the shipments, and called on the Chiang Rai authorities to do a better job of intercepting drugs there, before they arrived in metropolitan Bangkok.
Pills were stored in a refrigerator box on the ground floor, and others were found in an upstairs bedroom.
The arrest followed an earlier apprehension of another gang member with 20kg of ‘ice’ and 70,000 methamphetamine pills seized in the Ratchadapisek area of Bangkok.
The suspect said the drugs did not belong to him, but to his friend. Mr Sopon said he was only there as an employee hired to watch the house and the drugs.
The police chief thanked the narcotics police. saying the ring has carried drugs from Chiang Rai to the Nakhon Pathom house three times already, each time carrying at least one million pills.
Two drug gang members with outstanding arrest warrants are now on the run. The national police chief asked them to turn themselves in.
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Story: MCOT
