A THAI drug kingpin with an announced reward of 1 million baht for his capture was arrested in Laos and handed over to Thai police at Nakhon Phanom today (June 4), Naewna newspaper said.
A joint effort by Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau and Laotian police led to the capture of Mr. Piyanan Boonphan, 37, a native of Sakon Nakhon province who escaped arrest three years ago and fled to Laos where he lived a luxurious life with his Laotian wife in Savannakhet province, with money from drug dealing. He had built a large house on over 10 rai plot of land.
Upon being contacted by Thai police to help arrest the suspect, Laotian police took a photo of him riding a motorcycle and asked their Thai counterpart to confirm that this is the wanted suspect.
Upon getting this confirmation they took him into custody and handed him over as an illegal immigrant.
On May 2, 2022 Nakhon Ratchasima police found 7,920,000 methamphetamine pills in 18 fertiliser sacks at the back of a vehicle involved in an accident. It was later discovered that the vehicle belonged to Piyanan.
They followed him to his house in Sakon Nakhon but found that he had already fled to Laos. While there he became a coordinator for international drug traffickers delivering millions of methamphetamine pills and hundreds of kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine at one time. All this was smuggled into Thailand through natural waterways of the Mekong river.
Police said his arrest will reduce the amount of meth pills smuggled into Thailand through the Northeastern region by 5 to 10 percent and will also help in tracking down other suspects.
Piyanan is one of 21 major drug suspects being chased by police this year. A background check showed that he did not have any assets in Thailand. On the contrary he has a large amount of assets in Laos with Thai authorities to discuss with their Laotian counterpart on seizing them.
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The wanted drug kingpin riding his motorcycle in Laos and brought back to Thailand plus Thai police who tracked him down. Photos: Naewna
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