Narcotics suppression police have arrested two suspects with 1.9 million methamphetamine pills and 10 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine in Ayutthaya province, police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Pol Gen Chakthip said the arrest and the huge drug haul followed tips from informants that Hmong ethnic drug couriers would deliver drugs from tambon Tha Khao Pluak in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district to clients in Muang district of Ayutthaya.
According to the informants, the drugs were to be delivered in two pickup trucks from Chiang Rai through Phayao, Lampang, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri and Ang Thong to Ayutthaya.
Police units were deployed along suspected delivery routes to intercept them.
On Monday about 4.30pm, police spotted two pickup trucks parked in front of the central market for farm products in tambon Hantra of Ayutthaya's Muang district and decided to search them.
One of the pickups, a black Mitsubishi, sped away along the Asian Highway in the direction of Bangkok.
A search of the other pickup, an Isuzu Dmax, uncovered 950 packages containing 1.9 million methamphetamine pills and 10kg of "ice". Two men were arrested -- Somchart Akararoongrote, 29, and Roongroj Sae Hoe, 31, both of Tak province.
The pickup truck which fled was later found abandoned on the Ayutthaya-Suphan Buri road, but the driver, identified as Nikom Sae Ho, had fled.