Chiang Rai – Paramilitary troops engaged in a tense pursuit to intercept a pickup truck that broke through a checkpoint, carrying 3 million methamphetamine pills from the Mae Fah Luang border, but the driver escaped without a trace.
At 10:00 a.m. on 15 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Lieutenant General Satit Waiyanont, Commander of the Pha Muang Task Force, ordered Colonel Thawat Inkong, Deputy Commander of the Chao Tak Army, and Lieutenant Colonel Jakpong Sodsri, Commander of Task Force 31, to proceed to the scene at Ban Rung Charoen, Village 11, Si Kham Subdistrict, Mae Chan District, Chiang Rai Province.
Earlier, at 12:50 a.m. on 15 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Lieutenant Kritsada Chaiyo, Commander of Company 3106, Task Force 31, Pha Muang Task Force, received a report from the intelligence unit of Task Force 31 about a planned smuggling of drugs from the Mae Fah Luang border into their jurisdiction. Forces were dispatched to set up a checkpoint on the road near Ban Pa Miang, Village 9, Pa Tung Subdistrict, Mae Chan District.
Subsequently, a bronze-silver Ford four-door pickup truck with Chiang Rai license plate Khothor 1512 approached the checkpoint. Officers signaled for an inspection, but the vehicle accelerated and fled. Officials pursued the vehicle to Ban Rung Charoen, Village 11, Si Kham Subdistrict, Mae Chan District, where the Ford pickup had veered off into a roadside ditch and could not continue.
A search of the surrounding area found no suspects. Inside the vehicle, 14 blue straw sacks wrapped in black plastic were found in the truck bed, and 6 sacks were located inside behind the driver's seat, totaling 20 sacks containing methamphetamine. Each sack held 150,000 pills, amounting to 3,000,000 pills in total.
The seized items were confiscated as evidence and handed over to investigators at Mae Chan Police Station, Chiang Rai Province, for further interrogation and to expand efforts to apprehend accomplices for prosecution.