4 hilltribe men nabbed in drug bust

Police in Chiang Mai have arrested four men they said belonged to a drug racket, seizing 600,000 methamphetamine tablets from one of them worth Bt180 million.

The suspects, paraded at a press conference at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok, are Samran Saenluang, Phongsaphak Ruengkijsuwan, Somyos Laomee and Nopphorn Phanasirisomboon. The four, all Thai nationals from a hilltribe ethnic group, were travelling in two pickup trucks when they were stopped at a police checkpoint and arrested.

Speaking at the press conference, national police chief Pol General Priewpan Damapong quoted the suspects as saying they were hired by unidentified agents belonging to another hilltribe for Bt500,000 to drive both vehicles to a rendezvous in Chiang Mai.

One of the trucks carried a safe-deposit box containing an undisclosed amount of money. The four denied knowing that the box was kept in the truck before they began their journey.