Nine drug smugglers killed in Chiang Rai shootout - Bangkok Post
Soldiers examine rucksacks scattered across a forested area in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai on Tuesday following a brief armed clash between Thai troops and a group of drug smugglers on Monday night. Nine members of the drug gang were killed and 272 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine seized. (Photo: Pha Muang task force) Nine suspected drug smugglers were killed in an exchange of gunfire with security forces in a forested area in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai province on Monday night, with 272 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine seized.
A team of soldiers, police and officials on Tuesday inspected the site of the clash in the northern border district, where they found 16 modified rucksacks filled with drugs.
The bodies of nine smugglers were also found there, said the team led by Col Suphan Roiphut, commander of Thap Chao Tak special unit under the armyβs Pha Muang task force.
The clash occurred after soldiers from the unit spotted a group of 15 to 17 men walking through a forested area at Pang Mahan village Moo 8 in tambon Therd Thai of Mae Fa Luang district at 8.10pm on Monday.
The officers signalled them to stop for a search, but the men opened fire with unidentified firearms, prompting an exchange that lasted about 10 minutes before the group retreated.
Rucksacks are scattered on the ground at the clash site where nine drug couriers were killed, in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai. (Photo: Pha Muang task force)
No soldiers were injured in the exchange, the team said. Security authorities deployed three additional operational teams to secure the area.
Maj Gen Sathit Waiyanon, commander of the Pha Muang task force and director of its drug suppression operations centre, on Tuesday ordered units to remain vigilant in order to intercept and suppress drug trafficking along the border.
According to intelligence reports from the task force, trafficking gangs have continued in their attempts to smuggle narcotics into Thailand through Mae Fa Luang district, with the drugs intended for distribution to other regions of the country.
Thai soldiers killed 52 drug smuggling suspects in clashes in northern border areas between Oct 1 last year and Aug 31 this year, the task force reported recently.
The clashes were among 499 successful attempts to block drug smugglers, with a total of 482 suspects arrested, Maj Gen Sathit said.
Soldiers display the 16 rucksacks containing 272 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine left abandoned by a drug smuggling gang following the exchange of gunfire on Monday night. (Photo: Pha Muang task force)
