BANGKOK, Thailand – Thai authorities are significantly escalating drug interdiction efforts along the northern border.
In the past six weeks alone, officials seized over 73 million methamphetamine pills and more than 1,400 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine also known as Ice. This volume is double the amount seized during the same period last year.
Following this spike, Lt. Gen. Worathep Boonya, Commander of the 3rd Army Region, chaired a joint command meeting of military, police, and administrative agencies. The command agreed to designate 25 districts across six northern provinces as urgent interdiction zones and reinforce operational units with advanced tactical equipment, including handheld X-rays, drones, and night-vision cameras.
Intelligence indicates that drug production groups in neighboring countries are continuously manufacturing and smuggling narcotics into Thailand, primarily to finance ongoing internal conflicts while meeting sustained market demand.
Despite the intensified crackdown on transnational crime, Lt. Gen. Worathep confirmed there is currently no clear evidence linking drug trafficking networks to the Chinese scammer gangs (Grey Chinese) operating in the border regions.
He added, however, that the intensive, ongoing suppression of these scammer gangs, both in Thailand and neighboring territories, is expected to reduce the broader problems of transnational fraud and other organized crime. (TNA)
