In a joint investigation with the Border Patrol Police, authorities arrested a municipal registration assistant driving a vehicle to deliver methamphetamine pills. He confessed to being hired by a Lao national for 40,000 baht to transport methamphetamine for a network.
At 10:30 a.m. on 4 Feb 2026 at the Khon Kaen Provincial Police Investigation Division, Pol. Maj. Gen. Anuwat Suwanphoom, Commander of Khon Kaen Provincial Police, together with Pol. Col. Kanit Klinsrisuk, Deputy Commander of Border Patrol Police Region 2, Pol. Col. Thanomsit Wongwijarn, Deputy Commander of Khon Kaen Provincial Police, and investigative officers from Border Patrol Police Region 2 held a press conference announcing the arrest of Mr. Naret Sak, 40, a contract employee (assistant municipal registration officer) of Khon Kaen Municipality, along with 398,000 methamphetamine pills.
The Khon Kaen Police Commander stated that the arrest followed a tip from a concerned citizen who informed the investigative team that a drug trafficking ring from a neighboring country was smuggling methamphetamine across the Mekong River at Mukdahan Province, then transporting it to Khon Kaen Province using a white car registered in Khon Kaen. The drugs were temporarily stored in Khok Si Subdistrict, Mueang District, Khon Kaen, before distribution to local networks.
The investigative team coordinated with related agencies and Border Patrol Police Region 2. They received consistent intelligence and began monitoring the suspicious vehicle described by the informant. They found the white vehicle parked at a house in Village 6, Phra Lap Subdistrict, Mueang District, Khon Kaen. Officers set up surveillance nearby. At about 6:00 a.m., the vehicle left the house. Police followed it to a residence in Ban Leung Pueai, Village 13, Phra Lap Subdistrict, Mueang District, Khon Kaen. The driver stopped, left two green sacks beside roadside bushes, then drove away.
Police split into two teams: one guarded the sacks, the other pursued the vehicle. They apprehended the suspect at Don Sawan Village, Ban Kham Subdistrict, Nam Phong District, Khon Kaen. A search of the vehicle found the suspect’s municipal contract employee ID card and a mobile phone. He was brought to the Khon Kaen Provincial Police Investigation Division for interrogation and legal proceedings. The two green sacks contained 398,000 methamphetamine pills, which were seized as evidence.
During interrogation, Mr. Naret Sak admitted that a friend contacted him about a Lao man named Sia Joy who hired him to collect methamphetamine sacks placed by the network in Khok Si Subdistrict, Mueang District, Khon Kaen. He was to store the drugs before distributing them to customers in Mueang District. He was to be paid 40,000 baht and had done similar work in October 2025, delivering drugs to the Ban Phai area and receiving 40,000 baht.
However, on this latest occasion, Sia Joy instructed him to leave the sacks by the roadside forest where someone would pick them up. He left the sacks and drove away but had not yet been paid when arrested by police. He stated he only has one debt for a car installment of over 6,000 baht per month and no other debts.
After obtaining these details, police searched his residence in Phra Lap Subdistrict, Mueang District, Khon Kaen but found no illegal items. They seized two white vehicles—a four-door pickup truck registered in Khon Kaen owned by the suspect and a white Honda used to transport methamphetamine—valued together at 1.6 million baht.
The suspect and seized evidence were handed over to the Mueang Khon Kaen Police Station for prosecution on charges of distributing Category 1 narcotics (methamphetamine) without authorization, for commercial purposes and/or causing dissemination among the public.