Chiang Rai – Extrajudicial killings left along the borders of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Mae Hong Son are approaching the fifty mark and still not over. In the latest operation, Narcotics Suppression Police and Rangers from Ranger Company 3105 have intercepted a transnational drug-trafficking gang that transported narcotics from production sites in Shan State, floated them down the Mekong River through the Golden Triangle, landed them at Wiang Kaen, and handed them off to a network inside a cemetery ahead of moving the load to a Chiang Rai staging point or onward — another massive haul of 27 sacks, no fewer than 8,000,000 pills.
Officers from the Narcotics Suppression Police (NSP) Chiang Rai NSP Division, Sub-division 2, NSP Region 3, NSP Bureau, together with personnel from Ranger Company 3105, Ranger Task Force 31, Pha Mueang Task Force, inspected two pickup trucks and one motorcycle along with a large quantity of Category 1 narcotics (methamphetamine tablets) in order to collect evidence and expand the case further.
Earlier that evening (31 July), officers received a tip from villagers that vehicles and motorcycles had been seen parking inside the Ban Sao Wa crematorium — a cemetery — in Village No. 3, Tambon San Sai Wam, Amphoe Thoeng.
When Ranger Company 3105, Ranger Task Force 31, Pha Mueang Task Force personnel and NSP officers moved in to investigate, they found a bronze-gold Isuzu D-MAX pickup truck with no licence plate, an orange Nissan Navara pickup truck bearing Chiang Rai province plates, and a red Honda motorcycle also bearing Chiang Rai province plates, all parked inside the cemetery — with both pickup trucks reversed toward each other in a configuration used to transfer cargo from one vehicle to the other.
A sweep of the surrounding area found no suspects. It is believed that all the drivers sensed the approaching officers and, using the darkness and their familiarity with the terrain, fled before officers arrived.
Inspection of the cargo beds of both pickup trucks revealed 27 straw sacks in total, containing approximately 8,000,000 methamphetamine tablets stamped with the number "999." All items were seized and the entire haul was taken for further investigation to track down and arrest the individuals who fled, for prosecution under the law.
Preliminary assessments indicate that all of the narcotics were transported from the production site at Ban Pu Na Ko in Shan State, Myanmar, moved through Mong Phyak — a river-town on the Mekong above the Golden Triangle on the Myanmar side — before being smuggled through Muang Ton Pheung and Muang Huai Sai in the Lao PDR, and then brought ashore — believed to be at Ban Huai Luek, Tambon Muang Yai, Amphoe Wiang Kaen, Chiang Rai Province — before being transported onward along the Wiang Kaen–Chiang Khong–Khun Tan–Phaya Mengrai route to the said cemetery for staging or handover to the network, and from there onward to Mueang Chiang Rai District and the Central Region.
Officers believe this consignment of narcotics belongs to the network of "Nai Long," an ethnic Hmong financier who operates on both the Thai and Lao sides of the border.
According to a report from the Pha Mueang Task Force, from 1 October 2025 to the present, officers have intercepted narcotics on 446 occasions, arrested 428 suspects, and seized 263,288,207 methamphetamine tablets, 20 kilograms of heroin, 6,674.3 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (ice), 378.6 kilograms of opium, and 1,089.5 kilograms of ketamine. There have been 63 armed confrontations with smuggling gangs, resulting in 49 deaths among gang members.
