A TEAM of soldiers from Tap Chao Tak unit of Pha Muang Task Force clashed with drug traffickers on the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai before dawn today (Oct. 20) leading to the seizure of 405kg of crystal methamphetamine (Ice), Naewna newspaper said.
The team was patrolling an area near Sai river in Mai Sai district at 4 a.m. when they came across a group of around five to 10 suspicious people. They signalled their intention to go in and search but this group instead shot at the soldiers leading to a gunfight that lasted for around five minutes.
Once the clash stopped, with none of the soldiers being injured, the team called for reinforcement.
At 7 a.m. they inspected the clash site and found that the drug runners had left behind seven black plastic bags covered with straw sacks that had been converted into backpacks.
Found within were 27-28 tea packages containing Ice, each weighing one kg, for a total of 200kg, with all of it being seized.
Later Maj. Gen. Kittikorn Chantra, commander of the Pha Muang Task Force, and Col. Anuwach Panyanant, commander of Thap Chao Tak unit, ordered soldiers to search nearby areas and they came across a Myanmar man who was covered in mud and was not wearing shoes.
The suspect confessed that his group had smuggled drugs twice already and that there was another large amount of Ice piled up behind bushes a short distance away.
Upon searching the soldiers found another seven black plastic bags holding additional Ice all totalling 405kg.
On the same day, a team from Border Patrol Police Region 3 chased a drug-trafficking vehicle in Mae Chan district and seized 2,100,000 methamphetamine pills. They also arrested a suspect, but an officer, Pol.Sgt. Natchapol Sukpaisankun, commander of the 327th Border Patrol Police company, was shot in the right arm and injured.
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Bags of Ice seized after a clash with drug smugglers in Chiang Rai. Photos: Naewna
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