Thai authorities foil bid to smuggle RM12.2 mil worth of meth into Malaysia

Thai authorities have thwarted an attempt to smuggle over 205 kilograms of methamphetamine, valued at RM12.26 million, into Malaysia. This was achieved through the arrest of four members of a drug syndicate in Hat Yai, a city in southern Thailand. The operation involved multiple raids conducted by the Hat Yai police and the Narcotics Control Board.

The syndicate had utilized a courier service to transport the drugs from Hat Yai to Narathiwat, a border province of Malaysia. Information was received on Friday that packages suspected of containing drugs had been sent via courier. A suspect was apprehended on the morning of the operation while collecting packages from a courier company in the Ban Phru sub-district of Hat Yai.

Further investigations led to the arrest of two more suspects at their residences in the Khuan Lang sub-district of Hat Yai. The first suspect was tasked with delivering the drugs to the other two members of the syndicate. One of the suspects confessed to making three deliveries of 800 kilograms of methamphetamine to an associate in Narathiwat, receiving between RM19,600 and RM24,500 for each delivery.

Surveillance also resulted in the arrest of a 62-year-old woman, who was found with 205 kilograms of drugs while driving a pickup truck. The woman admitted that the narcotics were intended to be transported to Tak Bai Pier in Narathiwat before being smuggled into Malaysia via Pengkalan Kubor in Tumpat. This case highlights the drug syndicates' shift in smuggling routes along the Malaysia-Thailand border due to stricter border controls and the closure of illegal jetties along the Golok River.