A court has been asked to impose a heavy jail term on a former police officer who has been charged with trafficking over 170kg of crystal methamphetamine.
Former narcotics suppression police officer Somchai Promchai was arrested by Provincial Police Region (PPR) 5 police and local police at the Yaek Pa Mai checkpoint in Lampang’s Mae Phrik police district last Friday.
PPR 5 commissioner, Pol Lt Gen Piya Tawichai, said yesterday the suspect attempted to smuggle 177kg of crystal meth from Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng district to Ang Thong.
PPR 5 worked with the Narcotics Control Office Region 5 and soldiers from the northern border narcotics control centre to examine the seized items estimated to be worth about 500 million baht, or three times that price in overseas markets.
The suspect has been convicted of a prior drug crime.
In 2010, while Somchai was a police officer in the drug suppression unit, he was arrested with a large number of speed pills in his possession and was dismissed from the force. He was convicted that year and released in 2019.
Given he has repeated the crime, Pol Lt Gen Piya said, the PPR5 has asked the court to impose a heavy jail term against him.
Pol Lt Gen Piya said the offender admitted to the charges.
Police investigators have questioned the suspect and have found no police officers or state officials involved in this incident of drug trafficking.
However, the investigators were expanding their probe.