Drugs en route to M'sia belonged to fugitive Southern Thai drug lord: Thai official

BANGKOK: Thai authorities have pinned the blame on a fugitive drug lord over their seizure of a consignment of ganja and ‘Yaba’ (Crazy) pills two days ago, while it was enroute to Hatyai in southern Thailand, to be smuggled into Malaysia before its final destination in Europe.
The 1.1 tonnes of ganja and 1.2 million ‘Yaba’ pills, a type of methaphetamine drug, belonged to the Thai drug lord who carried a two million Baht (RM250,000) bounty on his head.
"The seized ganja and 'Yaba' pills belonged to his (the drug lord’s) network," Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) head, Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk told a media conference on the seized drugs at the NSB headquarters today.
Despite being on the run for more than 10 years, Thai authorities said Sommai, has not given up hope on nailing the drug lord and had asked for cooperation from neighbouring countries bringing the fugitive to book.
Recently, a senior Thai drug enforcement official told Bernama that based on intelligence, the fugitive drug lord could have undergone plastic surgery to alter his facial appearance, in an attempt to hoodwink the authorities and evade arrest.
Today's media conference came a day after Bernama reported the arrest of four members of an international drug syndicate for allegedly ferrying a large consignment of ganja and ‘Yaba’ pills to Hatyai, to be smuggle into Malaysia and hence to a European country.
The suspects aged between 32 and 54 were picked up at the Banmor district in Saraburi province.
The syndicate which was linked to the fugitive drug lord, according to a high-ranking source, intended to use Malaysia as a transit point before sending the drugs to an unnamed third country, probably a European country where the price of the drugs could tripled or quadrupled.
This narrative on an attempt to use Malaysia as a transit point by the said syndicate was confirmed by NSB commander Major-General Tanai Apichartseni who said the seized ganja was of high quality and suitable for the overseas market.
"This ganja shipment was world class quality," he said, while another narcotics police officer added that Thailand managed to intercept between 20 to 23 tonnes of ganja annually before drug syndicates managed to send it abroad. — Bernama