Nan police shot dead a suspect in a gunfight as he attempted to retrieve buried drugs late on Friday night.
Police said local resident Kwanchai Upala, 24, was killed while allegedly resisting arrest beside a road in Ban Nong Bua village in Tambon Si Sa Ket in Nan’s Na Noi district at 11.30pm.
Acting on a tip-off that the suspect would pick up hidden drugs, police staked out at the spot until Kwanchai arrived on a motorcycle.
After Kwanchai dug up a bag near some roadside banana trees, police came out of hiding to arrest him. Police said the suspect opened fire at them with a sawed-off shotgun, and so officers returned fire and killed him.
Police found 32,000 methamphetamine pills in the bag. The body was sent for an autopsy at the district hospital.
The Nation
