Huge drug haul uncovered in modified asphalt truck in Phitsanuloke

Police have seized 1,680kg of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, and 50kg of ketamine from an asphalt truck in Muang district of Phitsanuloke province. Three suspects are in custody.

Pol Lt-Gen Sayam Boonsom, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said officers had been surveilling the drug trafficking gang for some time and had received a tip-off that a huge quantity of illegal narcotics was to be smuggled from a northern province in an asphalt truck which had been modified with special compartments to conceal the drugs.

The truck was travelling through Phitsanuloke province towards Saraburi, where the drugs were to be stored in a warehouse before being distributed in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

Police decided to stop the truck in Muang district of Phitsanuloke for a search. Two scout cars, which travelled ahead of the truck to survey the route, and the truck itself were stopped at a roadblock.

One of the three suspects, identified only as “Pongsak”, claimed he had been paid about two million baht for each delivery, adding that he had already made five successful runs.