Udon Thani – A man was deceived by a close friend into driving nearly 800,000 methamphetamine pills and was eventually arrested. However, he did not hold a grudge because this friend had always helped him by driving sick family members to the hospital. Both cried and embraced each other with deep emotion, moved by the true meaning of friendship.
At 14:00 on 8 June 2026, at the Border Patrol Police Region 24 Command, Seniyanuyut Camp, Udon Thani Province, Pol. Col. Kanit Klinsrisuk, Deputy Commander of Border Patrol Police Region 2, Pol. Col. Nawatt Sukonrat, Commander of Border Patrol Police 24, Pol. Lt. Col. Boonlert Wisetchat, Deputy Commander of Border Patrol Police 23, and Police Sub-Lt. Chon Kaokhamsaen, Public Relations Chief of Border Patrol Police Company 237, jointly held a press conference announcing the arrest of a drug trafficking network: Mr. Chatichai Thontan, or Khem, 38, and Mr. Predee Kesonrat, or Dee, 36, both from Makya Subdistrict, Nong Wua So District, Udon Thani Province.
Seized evidence included 796,000 methamphetamine pills, a bronze-gray Suzuki Swift sedan with license plate 5กต 7131 Bangkok, and two mobile phones. The suspects were charged with “joint possession with intent to distribute a Category 1 narcotic (methamphetamine), an act for commercial purposes that causes widespread dissemination among the public and impacts national security and public safety, in violation of the law.” They were arrested at a rubber plantation in Ban Thap Kung, Thap Kung Subdistrict, Nong Saeng District, Udon Thani Province at 03:00 on 7 June 2026.
Pol. Col. Kanit Klinsrisuk, Deputy Commander of Border Patrol Police Region 2, revealed that on 24 April 2026, police arrested Mr. Thewan Phinyo, a hired drug transporter carrying 2.8 million pills from border provinces at Wanorn Niwat District, Sakon Nakhon Province. The suspect provided information about a network transporting drugs from border provinces into Northeast and Central Thailand, including a member named Chatichai Thontan, or Khem, from Udon Thani. The Border Patrol Police 24 anti-drug unit began monitoring Khem’s activities until reports came from Nakhon Phanom Province about suspicious movement, and Khem was also seen moving.
Reports then indicated that the drug trafficking group from Nakhon Phanom was heading to Udon Thani, but their target vehicle escaped surveillance. Police Sub-Lt. Chon Kaokhamsaen, Public Relations Chief of Border Patrol Police Company 237, ordered Deputy Chief Public Relations Officer Pol. Sub-Lt. Jirasak Kamwanet to track Khem. Around midnight on 7 June, they spotted Khem and Dee driving a bronze-black Suzuki Swift sedan, license plate 5กต 7131 Bangkok, leaving Ban Phasing and heading toward Udon Thani city, then returning to Ban Phasing, Makya Subdistrict, and proceeding toward a rubber plantation.
At 03:00, police blocked the road to intercept the Suzuki Swift, finding Dee driving. No drugs were found in the car. Dee confessed that Khem had unloaded the meth pills and hidden them at a hut in the rubber plantation at Ban Thap Kung, Thap Kung Subdistrict, Nong Saeng District, Udon Thani, which borders Ban Phasing. Police took Dee to the hut in the mountainous rubber plantation and found 398 bundles, or 796,000 pills, concealed within rock crevices in the plantation.
Khem managed to escape by fleeing up the Phu Phan Noi mountain. Police then contacted Khem’s mother and asked her to persuade him to surrender, assuring him that if he ran, a warrant would be issued. Khem promised to come down and surrender. Police gave him 20 minutes, warning they would not wait longer. Shortly after, Khem descended and surrendered to Pol. Sub-Lt. Jirasak, crying. Both Khem and Dee were then detained with the seized drugs and taken to Border Patrol Police Region 24 at Seniyanuyut Camp for interrogation.
During questioning, Chatichai, or Khem, admitted he was a scaffolding worker hired to transport methamphetamine. Previously, he was imprisoned for attempted murder. After release, he married and had a 5-year-old child. While in prison, he connected with a drug trafficking network. A Laotian financier named S hired him. On the night of 7 June 2026, the financier instructed him to pick up meth at the roadside in Ban Tat Subdistrict, Mueang Udon Thani District, and store it at his hut in the rubber plantation, awaiting further orders to deliver the drugs to customers in various locations within Udon Thani Province. He was to be paid 20,000 baht.
“I planned to give Dee 10,000 baht. I have done this several times to earn money to support my family and buy milk for my child. Then the police caught us. I feel sorry for dragging my friend into prison, but we do not use meth ourselves,” he said.
Predee, or Dee, Khem’s friend, said he never knew that Khem was hired to transport drugs before but agreed to drive the car when Khem asked. When he found out Khem was involved and got arrested, he did not hold a grudge because Khem had always helped by driving sick family members to the hospital and to see doctors. The first time Khem invited him to drive, they were caught.
Reporters noted that afterwards, Khem and Dee both wept and embraced each other, deeply moved by their friendship.