CHIANG RAI, Jan 12 (TNA) – Thai soldiers killed five suspected drug smugglers in a shoot-out in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.
The incident took place in a jungle near the Noi Dong Tung temple.
Patrolling officers encountered a group of 7-8 men, carrying rucksacks. When being signalled to stop for a search, those men instead opened fire on the security patrol.
After a five-miniute exchange of gunfire, soldiers found five men dead. They searched five backpacks belonging to the men and discovered about 500,000 pills of illegal drug presumed to be methamphetamine.
In the northeastern province of Nong Khai, officers seized about 300 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, smuggled across the Mekong River to Phon Phisai district.
Acting on a tip-off, the officers found two men on a suspicious boat, crossing the river to the Thai side at 3 a.m. on Jan 11. They placed the sacks on the river bank but abandoned them there and hurried fled the scene by boat after being asked by officers for a search.
The search found about 300 kilogrammes of crystal meth in seven sacks, worth about 120 million baht.(TNA)
