1.5 tons of marijuana worth 450 million baht seized in southern Thailand

Police have confirmed the seizure of 1.5 tons of marijuana along with 574 methamphetamine pills and haul of firearms in two separate raids in Chumphon, southern Thailand.

On March 3 Pol. Lt. Gen. Tesa Sirivato told reporters that during a routine road checkpoint, officers pulled over an Isuzu pickup truck with three people inside.

During initial questioning, the driver, identified as Mr. Boontiang Mahawong, 58 from Nakhon Phanom, started behaving suspiciously. Officers were also alerted to his mobile phone which was ringing constantly.

As officers continued to speak to Mr Boontiang, one of the passengers, Mr Komsak Nakowong, 52, admitted that he was in the process of orchestrating the transportation of a large amount of marijuana and that he had been due to help navigate an 18 wheel truck that would due to deliver the narcotics to an address in southern Thailand.

Just a few minutes later as police were still questioning the men, the suspected truck arrived at the checkpoint and police found 1,500 kg of marijuana hidden under construction sand and rock in the back of the truck.

Police arrested the driver of the truck, Mr. Vittaya Khuenkaew, 34, from Chiang Rai, along with his 38 year old wife, Suchira Kaewtalay.

Mr. Vittaya allegedly confessed to the police that Mr. Komsak, had paid him 53,000 baht to drive the truck from Nakhon Phanom to Songkhla province but claimed he did not know what was in the truck, apart from rocks and sand.

However, police didn’t believe Mr Vittaya and he, along with the other suspects were transferred to Chumphon police station for further questioning.

Further investigations found that the truck had travelled from northern Thailand and police believe the shipment of marijuana originated from Laos.

In a separate case, police arrested 8 men following a raid at a house in the Tha Sae district. During the raid, officers seized 574 methamphetamine pills and 29.14g of crystal methamphetamine, as well as 4 shotguns, 20 rounds of ammunition and a K75 hand grenade.

Source Thairath via Thai Visa

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