According to Reuters , Thai police have just arrested two people involved and seized 50 million methamphetamine pills (a type of crystal meth) at a security checkpoint in Kanchanaburi province, near the border with Myanmar on December 12. This is a record amount of crystal meth that Thailand has ever seized.
According to Thai police, the methamphetamine pills were contained in a large sack and hidden in the back of a six-wheeled truck. A man and a woman in the truck were arrested.
Mr. Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the amount of crystal meth seized in the case was the second largest in all of Asia.
Previously, in 2021, Lao authorities dismantled a drug trafficking ring in Laos, near the Golden Triangle area, and seized more than 55 million amphetamine pills.
Mr. Douglas said distribution networks had reached as far as Japan and New Zealand. “The production of methamphetamine is still expanding,” a UNODC representative told Reuters .
Douglas said the seizures made by authorities had only a minimal impact on the regional drug trade as organized crime groups increased supply and reduced the price of methamphetamine. He added that the instability in Myanmar since the 2021 coup had also allowed smugglers to expand their routes and operations, according to Reuters .
Minh Hoa (reported by Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre)
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