One man has died and drugs were seized following a shoot out between border police and drug smugglers in Mae Ai yesterday, Nov. 11.
The shoot out took place near the Myanmar border in Ban Pa Si, Moo 1 Malika at around 9:15 p.m.
Tipped off that drug smugglers may attempt to take advantage of Loy Krathong celebrations, believing that patrols may not be active, border patrol police came up five men with backpacks on a forest path not far from Doi Lang-Ban Tha Ton Road.
Demanding that the men surrender, the smugglers instead opened fire on the patrol with police firing back with the firefight lasting around three minutes. Four of the drug smugglers managed to flee with a man, believed to be around 30 and described as “non-Thai” by Thairath was found dead at the scene.
The dead man was found with a rifle and backpack. Inside the backpack, police found 26 bottles of heroin (172 grams per bottle) with a total weight of 3.4 kilograms along with 2.4 kilograms of raw opium.
Photo: Thairath
