A former associate judge has been arrested for possessing 182,000 methamphetamine tablets with intention to sell.
The illicit drug allegedly found in her MercedesBenz, her house and her apartment was worth about Bt36.4million.
Kittayaporn Kittiyaporn Selarak, who worked as an associate judge in Maha Sarakham province for five years, was caught on Wednesday in Bangkok's Lat Phrao district, police say.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner LtGeneral Santhan Chayanont announced her arrest at a press conference yesterday.
"We have been trailing her for a long time," Santhan said.
Kittiyaporn, 49, claimed she had been paid by a man known only as Leng to deliver drugs to customers in Bangkok. She was introduced to Leng via a woman whose relative was arrested on drug charges when Kittiyaporn was serving as an associate judge.
Kittiyaporn said she agreed to get into the drug trade because of her expensive medical bills.
"After having a stroke, the treatment cost me millions of baht," she said.
Kittiyaporn said Leng paid her between Bt20,000 and Bt30,000 per delivery.
Meanwhile, Lampang police chief MajGeneral Attakij Kornthong said a close examination of a vehicle seized in a drug investigation had finally uncovered 240,000 methamphetamine tablets.
"On the Bangkok street, this amount of drugs is worth well over Bt70 million," he said.
The vehicle was impounded on February 19 when Neung Khamphan and his wife were found with 59,600 methamphetamine tablets. Their vehicle was sent to a garage for close examination.
Repairmen opened the LPG cylinder in the vehicle and found a large number of meth tablets inside, police said.