The Nakhon Pathom Police Chief announced the arrest of one more Malaysian member of a transnational ice drug trafficking gang, seizing an additional 44 kilograms. The suspects dispersed to evade capture but were caught while crossing a border checkpoint leaving the country.
At 11:30 a.m. on 18 May 2026, in the third-floor conference room of Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police Headquarters, Police Major General Phithak Uppong, Commander of Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police, along with Police Colonel Pongsawat Kamphachue, Deputy Commander, Mr. Tipmeth Sangkawarana, Director of Narcotics Control Office Region 7, Police Colonel Piyorot Kantasiri, Head of Investigation Division, and Police Lieutenant Colonel Somporn Jaraied, Deputy Investigation Chief of Kamphaeng Saen Police Station, together with the Nakhon Pathom police investigative team, held a press conference. They announced the arrest of one Malaysian suspect linked to a transnational ice drug trafficking gang, seizing 44 kilograms of ice worth over 6 million baht, and confiscating an Isuzu MU-X pickup truck registered in Bangkok that concealed the drugs. The vehicle was found parked at a resort in Kamphaeng Saen District, Nakhon Pathom Province. The gang consisted of four members who abandoned the vehicle and fled separately. Authorities managed to arrest one individual, MR.JEEVA, a Malaysian who rented the vehicle, at the Sadao border checkpoint in Songkhla Province. The other three suspects remain at large and are being pursued.
Police Major General Phithak Uppong, Commander of Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police, explained that this arrest stemmed from an earlier operation on 14 May 2026, when officers from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau collaborated with the Nakhon Pathom investigative team to apprehend a Malaysian drug trafficking network at a hotel in Thap Luang Subdistrict, Mueang Nakhon Pathom District. Five Malaysian suspects were arrested along with 440 kilograms of ice. Subsequent interrogations revealed another Malaysian group separately staying at hotels or resorts, storing ice drugs awaiting export.
After receiving this information, police instructed affiliated officers to request cooperation from hotel and service establishment owners to report any foreign guests' details to Nakhon Pathom Provincial Police. On 15 May 2026, a resort reported that four Malaysian men arrived driving a pickup truck and booked two rooms, but only two names were registered. Investigators were dispatched to observe and monitor, but no one left the rooms.
On 16 May 2026, authorities obtained a search warrant from the Nakhon Pathom court and conducted searches of the rooms and the Isuzu vehicle. No one was present in the rooms, only the vehicle was found. A locksmith was called to open the vehicle, where 44 kilograms of ice drugs, each package weighing one kilogram, were discovered and seized as evidence. Coordination with immigration offices nationwide was initiated to locate the Malaysian men. On 17 May 2026, the Sadao immigration checkpoint reported that MR.JEEVA was attempting to leave for Malaysia. He was detained and brought in for interrogation.
During questioning, MR.JEEVA confessed to being part of the same Malaysian ice drug trafficking gang apprehended by the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on 14 May 2026 with 440 kilograms of ice. His group of four—including himself, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Tayalan, and Mr. Darendren—had separated to stay at another hotel and resort in Kamphaeng Saen District, carrying 44 kilograms of ice in their vehicle. After learning on 14 May that their associates had been arrested with drugs, they feared police pursuit and dispersed without knowing the whereabouts of the other three. MR.JEEVA fled south intending to cross the Sadao checkpoint into Malaysia but was arrested as described.
Meanwhile, the remaining three fugitives are being actively pursued by narcotics suppression and investigative teams from Nakhon Pathom police. They are believed to still be hiding within the country. This group is considered a major drug trafficking ring exporting through Malaysia and distributing to various countries.