Police intercept truck carrying 300kg of crystal meth in dramatic pursuit
This is the dramatic moment police seized 300 kilogrammes of crystal meth in an adrenaline-fuelled pursuit of suspected drug smugglers in Thailand.
The Metropolitan Police Bureau surveilled a suspicious white Isuzu allegedly used to move narcotics from Bangkok to southern Thailand.
They staked out a fuel station in Samut Songkhram, southwest of the capital, where the vehicle had stopped over, in the early hours of September 20.
Footage shows officers moving in to detain alleged smugglers Thanawat Sanla, 22, and Pratchaya Chanprakob, 27, before the pair fled toward a nearby pond.
The suspects plunged into the water as they tried to escape, but police quickly arrested them.
Cops seized 300 kilogrammes of meth in the white Isuzu truck. Inside its container were three mobile phones, 46,300 baht in cash and two necklaces, worth around 70 million baht in total.
Officers found that neither suspect had a criminal record.
They allegedly confessed to being hired by a drug dealer to collect the drugs in the northeastern region and deliver them to another dealer in the south.
They received 100,000 baht for the task and had carried out the delivery twice before being arrested.
The operation followed intel that the truck was transporting a drug shipment to southern Thailand.
Police followed the vehicle until it stopped at a petrol station at around 1 am local time on Sunday, revealing themselves when the driver Thanawat emerged to use the toilet.
Police General Samran Nualma, deputy national police chief, said Thai police had coordinated with Malaysian police and other neighbouring countries as the syndicate had been using Thailand as a transit route to export drugs to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea.
He said cooperation with Myanmar authorities had led to the capture of an additional nine suspects allegedly involved in the drug network, who were currently being extradited.
The police chief said: 'The two were charged with selling Category 1 narcotics by possessing them for sale without authorisation, constituting an act for commercial purposes, causing dissemination among the general public and impacting state security or public safety.
‘Both suspects and the seized evidence were handed over to the inquiry officer of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for legal proceedings.
‘We are expanding the investigation to find the mastermind.'
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.
