BANGKOK: Thai police seized more than fifteen million methamphetamine pills and other illegal substances worth 300 million baht (8.15 million dollars) in what authorities said on Thursday was one of the largest drug hauls so far this year.
Four people were apprehended in connection with the bust, which included 420 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and heroin at a home in Nakhon Pathom province, north of Bangkok.
Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told journalists that this is one of the largest drug storage facilities in the middle of the country, in a community area.
Incoming police chief Police General Torsak Sukvimol said the overall street worth of the bust was three hundred million baht, adding that the drugs were produced in a neighbouring country.
Drug trafficking on rise
Smuggling of synthetic drugs in East and Southeast Asia is surging, the United Nations (UN) said in a report earlier this year, with high volumes of methamphetamine still being produced from the Golden Triangle region where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet.
The region has a long history of illegal drug production and has recently served as a major production centre for amphetamine-type stimulants, particularly methamphetamine, used by Asian crime syndicates with distribution networks reaching as far as New Zealand and Japan.
