Four arrested, 1,400kg meth seized following raid on hut in Nong Khai
Four Thai men were arrested in Nong Khai province and 1,400 kilograms of methamphetamine, allegedly smuggled from Laos, seized by police and soldiers of a Ranger Forces Regiment last week.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Lt-General Adul Boonthamcharoen, commander of the 2nd Army Area, said officials had learned that the suspects smuggled drugs from the neighboring country and stashed it in a hut located in Ban Muang subdistrict of Nong Khai, a province on Thailand’s northeastern border.
According to Adul, soldiers and local police officers raided the hut on Saturday, arrested the suspects who are Nong Khai locals aged between 39 to 54 years, and seized 198 bricks of crystal meth weighing 1,404 kilograms in total. The drug has an estimated street value of 2.5 billion baht.
Officials expanded their investigation and searched the suspects’ residences in Sangkhom district. The search resulted in seizure of assets worth around 7.5 million baht that included a pickup truck, a tractor, two motorcycles, a house on 69 square wah (276 square metres) land, and several bank accounts.
The suspects reportedly confessed that they had been using the hut to store the drug, which they smuggled on a pickup truck across Mekong River from Laos at 10-20 bricks per time, before shipping in bulk to buyers in other countries.
The suspects were sent to Na Ngiew Police Station to be charged with drug smuggling and possessing for sale.
