Thai authorities have arrested a Lao national and four Thai suspects in a major drug trafficking operation, seizing more than 2.5 million methamphetamine pills in central Thailand as part of a coordinated crackdown on cross-border narcotics networks.
Khok Charoen Police Station in Lopburi Province announced the arrests on 26 January.
The Lao suspect was identified as Lattanaxay Sikhotsombath, 30, a resident of Savannakhet Province in central Laos. According to Thai authorities, Lattanaxay transported methamphetamine from Laos into Thailand using a private vehicle. Police intercepted him in Khok Charoen district as he was moving the drugs for delivery to Ang Thong Province.
The operation yielded six sacks containing 2,514,000 methamphetamine pills valued at more than THB 75 million (approximately USD 2.4 million). Authorities linked the shipment to a drug warehouse in Ang Thong Province and connected it to the same trafficking network involved in a previous major seizure in Lopburi Province that netted nearly 10 million pills.
Police also arrested four Thai nationals known publicly only by their first names: Chatchawan, 25; Nattawut, 35; Narit, 36; and Pramot, 28. They allegedly served as route scouts, receivers, and coordinators for storage and distribution across central Thailand.
Investigators said the network employed cross-border routes and sophisticated logistics to evade checkpoints. Police are expanding their investigation to identify additional suspects, trafficking routes, and financial connections.
Earlier on January 21, Thai authorities arrested two Lao nationals from Salavan Province in Mukdahan Province, opposite Savannakhet Province along the Mekong River, seizing approximately 820,000 methamphetamine pills.
