Buriram: Police chased a drug gang while transporting drugs to Saraburi Province. The suspects sped away and crashed into a police motorcycle, forcing them to shoot out the tires to stop them. Three people were arrested, while two escaped. Two million methamphetamine pills were seized as evidence.
According to Thai News Agency, Lam Plai Mat Police Station led a force to pursue a major drug trafficking gang, the 'Ai Lao' network of Lao nationality, after seeing a suspicious car driving into a checkpoint in Lam Plai Mat District, Buriram Province. When the police called for it to pull over, it crashed into the police and sped away. The police followed and shot at the car's tires, causing it to be unable to drive any further. They quickly arrested three suspects: Mr. Thongkham or Bas, aged 29, Ms. Latdawan or B, aged 29, who are a couple, and Mr. Phongsit or Kok, aged 29, along with five sacks of methamphetamine pills, totaling 2,000,000 pills. In another car used to lead the way, two other members of the gang escaped, and the police are urgently searching for them.
The suspects confessed that they were hired to transport the methamphetamine from 'Ai Lao' for 200,000 baht and the car to lead the way for 50,000 baht. After receiving the methamphetamine in That Phanom District, Nakhon Phanom Province, they transported it to rest in Maha Sarakham Province before taking it to Saraburi Province. They used 2 cars to both transport the drugs and patrol the route until they came across the police checkpoint. They had done this twice, transporting 2 million methamphetamine pills each time to send to the inner provinces.
From checking the suspects' history, they were arrested for drug cases and many other cases. They knew each other while in prison. After being released, they joined together to smuggle methamphetamine. All three suspects were charged with possession of drugs for sale and drug use. Meanwhile, Mr. Thongkham was charged with an additional offense of "obstructing an official".