Bt1.371 billion assets of drug traffickers seized under new law
Assets worth Bt1.371 billion have been confiscated from convicted drug traffickers following the enforcement of a new anti-drug law, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Monday.
Somsak said government agencies now have a new criminal code as a tool for fighting drug traffickers.
The new criminal code, which focuses on assets seizure, was enforced late last year and the government hopes the stepped up seizure of assets of drug traffickers would eventually force them to stop the crime.
Somsak said several government agencies have been fighting drug traffickers under the operation code name “Pali” and have been using the new law as the main tool.
He said the Justice Ministry of the Prayut administration is confident of reaching the annual goal of seizing assets worth Bt10 billion with the enforcement of the new law.
“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has been monitoring the assets seizure of drug traffickers because he attaches high importance to the drug issue,” Somsak said.
“It’s not hard to reach the goal of seizing Bt10 billion worth of assets. And I would like to call on people to give us leads, because we have set aside Bt500 million for providing rewards to those who tip us off about drug trafficking.”
