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Police Narcotics Suppression Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Wuth Liptapanlop told a press conference yesterday that the five were arrested in a sting operation on Saturday in Bangkok's Saphan Khwai area.

About 5.5kg of heroin, a Kawasaki motorbike, Bt54,000 in cash, three bank account books and a taxi were confiscated.

The five suspects are Aa San's accountant Suparee "Aa Mei" Saenliew, 36; Somchai Boonsri, 49; a Burmese national identified only as Lhong, 32, who carried the Thai ID card of 42-year-old Niwat Petchsamai; a 22-year-old Burmese woman identified only as Mol; and taxi driver Direk Yongyuth, 42.

Wuth said police had kept a close eye on Aa San's network after he was arrested on February 8, 2005 in China's Kunming city and returned to Thailand for prosecution. Here the Criminal Court sentenced Aa San to death for possessing drugs for sale. Aa San is appealing against the sentence and is in detention at the Bang Kwang Prison.

Following Aa San's arrest, police cracked down on 17 more cases related to his network, which involved a total of 32 foreign and Thai suspects as well as 170kg of heroin, 1.6 tablets of ya ba and some Bt9 million in Thai and foreign currencies, Wuth reported.

Police have also uncovered a drug-trafficking gang run by Aa Mei and found that the Saenliew family's ties with former drug lord Khun Sa allowed them to order narcotics from neighbouring countries and transport them to the South and overseas, Wuth said.

Wuth's deputy, Pol Maj-General Adithep Panjamanont said police had been watching Ae Mei's gang for two years now and learned that they stored the drugs in a rented house in the Nawathani area. So, the police ordered 5.5kg of heroin worth Bt7 million for exchange in a Saphan Khwai hotel on Saturday.

He said if all that heroin had been sent overseas, its value would multiply ten times and would be worth at least Bt70 million. Police would continue hunting for the rest of the gang, he added.