CHIANG RAI: Authorities seized more than 3.5 million speed pills and 9kg of crystal methamphetamine, or "ya ice", abandoned by smugglers who fled into Myanmar on Friday.
A team of soldiers from the Pamuang task force spotted a suspicious man with a backpack crossing the Mae Sai River onto Thai soil in Mae Sai district at around 5am on Friday.
The team asked to conduct a search but the man abandoned the bag and crossed back over the river to the Myanmar side. The backpack was found to contain 100 bundles of 200,000 speed pills.
About two hours later, a combined team of officers from the Pamuang task force, the 3rd cavalry regiment and local police were deployed to the Huay Khrai reservoir in tambon Huay Khrai following a tip-off that a gang planned to smuggle drugs there.
At around 7am, about 15 men were seen carrying backpacks and some had weapons.
The officers signalled them to stop for a search but the men abandoned the bags and ran into a nearby forest. The officers gave chase but failed to find the men.
They checked the 30 bags left behind and found 3.37 million speed pills and nine kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine inside.
Maj Gen Jiradet Kamolphet, commander of the Pamuang task force, said the seizures followed information from local residents who reported spotting as many as 40 suspicious-looking men walking along the border to enter Thai territory.
The seized speed pills alone were worth 300 million baht and could fetch up to 600 million baht if smuggled into urban areas, Maj Gen Jiradet said during a media briefing on Friday.