Mercedes driver arrested with meth, gun and cash-filled safe 'after cops smell drugs inside car'
A driver was allegedly caught with meth pills, a gun, and a safe stuffed with cash after police said they smelled drugs inside his car.
Boonrit Damrak was driving his luxury Mercedes-Benz on the Thai tropical island of Koh Lanta when police stopped him at a checkpoint in Krabi province on August 20.
Officers were carrying out a routine inspection when they immediately noticed the smell of suspected 'ya ba' or meth pills coming from inside the car.
They searched the vehicle and allegedly found 528 methamphetamine pills, packed in four bags, along with around 0.9g of ketamine.
They also allegedly discovered a handgun with its serial and registration numbers removed beside the driver's seat, together with 12 rounds of .357 ammunition.
Cops then opened the boot, where they discovered a safe stuffed with more than 2 million baht in cash.
Boonrit was also said to have been carrying a gold necklace weighing 320.27g and a gold bracelet weighing 302.97g - a combined 623.24g of gold.
He was detained and charged with possessing Category 1 drugs for sale for commercial purposes, and illegal possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition.
The seized cash, gold and other property were valued at more than 5 million baht and are being processed under Thailand's Narcotics Case Procedure Act.
Police launched a wider investigation and later discovered links to a drug-trafficking network allegedly operating in northern Thailand and moving narcotics through Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani.
The network mostly used cash to pay for drugs.
Police said they were tracing the financial trail and working to identify other members of the alleged network.
The arrest was announced on August 24 as Krabi authorities announced the wider results of their anti-drug crackdown.
Between July 1 and August 24, police said they had arrested 290 suspected drug dealers, 16 users and 18 wanted suspects.
The operation resulted in the seizure of around 280,000 meth pills, 17.77g of crystal meth, 70 guns, a grenade, 27 vehicles and assets worth more than 10.25 million baht.
Authorities said the crackdown would continue, with police, officials and other agencies working together to dismantle drug networks across Krabi.
Thailand has become a notorious hub for drug use, 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.
