Seven members of a Muser drug caravan were killed and about 70kg of heroin seized in a clash with army rangers along the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fa Luang district early Friday.
A team of rangers from the Pha Muang task force spotted about a dozen armed men walking through a mountainous area at Mae Chanluang village in Mae Fa Luang district around 5am on Friday.
The rangers moved in to round them up and make a search, but the men opened fire at them, Thai media reported. The two sides exchanged fire for more than 10 minutes. The clash ended when the smugglers retreated. The rangers pursued them but they made good their escape.
At dawn, the soldiers cleared the area and found the bodies of seven men dead from bullet wounds. Six backpacks containing 201 bars of heroin weighing about 70kg and one rifle, were found near their bodies, Thai media reported.
A member of a military intelligence unit said the armed men were members of a drug caravan of a Muser tribal drug trafficking network that wielded much influence along the Myanmar border opposite Mae Chan and Mae Fa Luang districts of Chiang Rai and Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai.
The seized heroin was worth about 800 million baht and 2-3 times that when smuggled to a third country, the officer ssaid.
A senior officer at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board explained prices of heroin varied depending on the quality. No 3 heroin was sold at 200,000 baht a kilo, while high grade No 4 heroin, which was in high demand locally and overseas, could fetched 350,000-400,000 baht a kilo.