At 10AM on December 30th, 2020, the Narcotics Police Headquarters announced a joint effort of arresting 11 people in a drug network. The seizure included 500 kilos of ice, 1.8 million yaba tabs, 1.5 kilos of cocaine, 1 kilo of ketamine, and 200 tablets of ecstasy, and 1 vehicle.
Lt. Col. Montri said that there was an interesting drug case for New Year’s Eve. He described the arrest of a major drug operation from the Isaan region of the country. The network smuggled from Isaan down to central Thailand and then to destinations in the southern part of the country.
The investigation revealed that the smuggling had been ongoing. The drugs were smuggled many different ways: hidden in vehicle engines, excercise machines, speakers, and delivery of products by post. The smugglers used private shipping companies to transport them, making it difficult to track.
Authorities were tipped off that a factory ordered telephone booth was modified to remove the internal equipment and was to be used for hiding the drugs before shipping to its destination in Narathiwat.
Six suspects involved with the drug running were arrested: Mr. Yuthasak Sihabandit, 33; Mr. Manoch Vanthongka, 26; Mr. Muhammad Nasri Azae, 43; Ruslan Avehama, 43; And sobri Pho Ade, 25.
The network had also sent a phone booth to Taiwan earlier. Police in Thailand had been in touch with authorities in Taiwan, who intercepted that telephone booth, which helped in this case.
Another major drug bust with ties to Taiwan. The smuggling to Taiwan has been a feature of nearly every major bust in the news lately, even in the big ketamine busts from the infamous warehouse last month.
We will follow up with this story as reports come in thai crime jp
