Police arrested 24 people and confiscated 1,300 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, 17 million speed pills and 2kg of ketamine as part of a nationwide crackdown on crime ahead of Sunday’s election.
Pol Lt Gen Prachuap Wongsuk, assistant police chief, said at a press conference on Friday that the arrests and confiscations were made in eight cases from April 19 to this Wednesday.
In the first case, police arrested two people and seized 8.7 million methamphetamine pills in front of a resort in Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng district while the suspects were transporting them from the border in Wiang Hae district.
The second case saw arrests made on April 23 at a checkpoint in Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in district while police were looking into a tip-off about a narcotics drop-off in Pathum Thani.
Two people were nabbed at the checkpoint and 234kg of crystal methamphetamine were seized.
Two others were arrested in Chiang Rai, and 17kg of “ice” seized in an extended investigation, police said.
In the third case, two people were arrested on May 1 in possession of two million speed pills at a petrol station in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district.
On May 6, a man was arrested in Sakhon Nakhon with 450kg of ice while he was delivering it from Bung Kan to a customer in Bangkok.
On May 8, police seized 1.6 million methamphetamine pills and 2kg of ketamine at a goods distribution centre in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district. Two people were arrested in a follow-up investigation.
Also, on May 8, seven people were nabbed in possession of 4.4 million speed pills in Sukhothai while they were delivering the drug to a customer in Ayutthaya. Three pickup trucks were also seized.
Police in Songkhla’s Chana district confiscated 300kg of ice on May 8 and arrested four people as part of the expanded investigation into the seizure of 688kg of the drug early this year.
In the eighth case, two people were arrested on May 10 in Chiang Rai’s Muang district with 300kg of crystal methamphetamine in their possession.