Narcotics Suppression Police Region 3, working alongside the Pha Muang Task Force and Ranger Regiment 31, seized eight million methamphetamine pills hidden inside a cemetery in Chiang Rai‘s Thoeng district. The pills, discovered yesterday, August 1, are believed to be part of a cross-border trafficking network with a financier hiding in Laos.
Officers recovered 27 sacks of the drugs from Ban Sao Wa cemetery in Moo 3, San Sai Ngam subdistrict. The stash had been concealed among the gravesites while traffickers waited for an opportunity to move it further into the country.
The raid followed weeks of intelligence gathering by the joint task force, which tracked the shipment’s journey from its point of origin to the storage site.
Investigators say the pills were produced at a pressing factory in Ban Poo Na Ko, Shan State, in Myanmar, using precursor chemicals sourced from the nearby town of Mueang Tum. The batch was first moved to Mong Phaeng before being smuggled across the Mekong River into Ton Pheung and Ban Huay Sai in Bokeo province, Laos.
From there, the network exploited the forested border terrain around Wiang Kaen district to bring the shipment into Chiang Rai. Vehicles then carried the drugs along remote roads through Wiang Kaen to Ban Tha Charoen in Sri Don Chai subdistrict, Chiang Khong district, before cutting through Khun Tan and Phaya Mengrai districts en route to the cemetery in Thoeng.
Each pill bore a red ‘999’ stamp, a marking investigators have linked to previous large seizures traced to the same production network along the Myanmar border.
Police believe the shipment was financed by a fugitive known as Long, who remains wanted on an outstanding warrant and is thought to be sheltering across the border in Laos.
According to investigators, Long’s network relies on so-called short-haul couriers, ethnic minority groups familiar with the mountain trails around Wiang Kaen, who are paid per crossing to move drugs over the border. A separate group of long-haul drivers is believed to take over the shipments by van or truck for onward transport, though police have yet to confirm evidence linking specific individuals to this stage of the operation.
Officers suspect the pills were destined for a distribution network in Mueang Chiang Rai district before being repackaged and moved south toward central Thailand and the greater Bangkok area.
The seized drugs have been handed to investigating officers, and the task force said it is pursuing digital evidence and further arrest warrants for those connected to the network.
In another separate incident, Japanese prosecutors have dropped drug charges against a 28 year old Thai woman, Juthathip, arrested at Fukuoka Airport after crystal meth was found hidden in coffee and tea packages she carried. Her boyfriend said the couple ran a Thailand-Japan courier service and she was offered 3,500 baht (US$100) via LINE to transport 12 kilogrammes of goods. Immigration questioned three travellers on arrival but detained only her. ONCB spokesperson Areephak Ngern-bamrong confirmed prosecutors found no intent to smuggle drugs. Japanese immigration and the Thai consulate are arranging her return, while Thai investigators continue tracing the suspected trafficking network.
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