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NARATHIWAT: Thai authorities today seized assets worth 50 million baht belonging to a politician from Southern Thailand who is believed to be a drug kingpin in Waeng district, Narathiwat.
The country’s deputy police chief, Gen Chalermkiat Sriworakhan said a police and army team today conducted raids at 17 locations in Waeng district including the residence of a Narathiwat Provincial Administration Organisation member, aged 58, who was still at large and being tracked down by police.
“The suspect is among the biggest drug traffickers in southern Thailand and he is believed to be linked to a drug trafficking syndicate in Malaysia,“ he told reporters, here, today.
It is learnt that the Thai authorities had raided the politician’s residence and seized his luxury cars and motorcycles, besides freezing his nine bank accounts.
The politician is believed to be the mastermind in the smuggling of 459kg of “ice” (crystal methamphetamine) on July 7.
Police had issued a warrant of arrest on the politician on July 12 after detaining four men in Bangkok and Songkhla who revealed that they were paid to deliver the drug.
On July 7, Thai police arrested two men, aged 33 and 32, in Bangkok and seized 459 kg of ‘ice’ from their pickup truck.
The following day, police arrested two more men, aged 57 and 51, at a fuel station in Songkhla, southern Thailand. Both suspects who are from Waeng district, Narathiwat were waiting to take the drug from the first two suspects.
It is believed that the drug had been smuggled into Chiang Rai through the town of Tachileik at the Thailand-Myanmar border. — Bernama
