Dramatic chase as police seize 200,000 meth pills from car

This is the dramatic moment police seized 200,000 meth pills in a car chase in northern Thailand.

Border Patrol Police intercepted the black Toyota Vios as it was driving along Khon Kaen, in the early hours of July 17.

Footage shows officers chasing down the sedan before it was caught in traffic at around 12:15 am local time.

The vehicle rammed a police car while trying to reverse.

Arned cops then swarmed the sedan and arrested the driver Arthit, 38, who was previously arrested on drug offences.

He was charged with possessing Category 1 narcotics with intent to distribute for commercial purposes.

Police Colonel Khanit Klinsrisuk, deputy commander of Border Patrol Police Region 2, said the operation followed intelligence that a black Toyota Vios was being used to traffic narcotics across the border.

Authorities surveilled the suspected transport route then moved in to search the car when it appeared.

The police boss said: 'A black sack containing approximately 200,000 methamphetamine pills was found and seized as evidence.

'The drugs would have been worth more than six million baht if they had reached their destination and been distributed.

‘This would have had a serious impact on the public, society and national security.

Arthit, seen in the video with arm sleeve tattoos and wearing a tropical-themed shirt, allegedly confessed he had been hired by a Lao financier to transport the drugs from Bueng Kan to Khon Kaen for 50,000 baht.

He claimed it was his first time carrying out such a job.

However, officers found that he had previously been arrested in a drug-related case and had only been released from prison around a year earlier.

Authorities said they were tracking down other members of the network, including local and international financiers.

Thailand has become a notorious hub for drug production and trafficking. In the north of the country, the ‘Golden Triangle' area shares borders with Laos and Myanmar, and has produced large amounts of opium since the 1950s but focus in recent years has shifted to the more profitable methamphetamine.

Officials believe most of the meth is produced in the Shan State of Myanmar before being distributed through neighbouring countries where prices are higher before ending up in the most expensive markets of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

However, cracking down on drug production has been complicated by the influx of crime gangs from China and the Burmese civil war, which has seen the army take over the country - along with control of lucrative drugs chains.