The first arrest came early yesterday when soldiers at the Phuket Checkpoint conducted a routine check of a minivan bringing passengers from Hat Yai at about 1:30am.
The search by soldiers uncovered nothing suspicious until specially trained sniffer dogs reacted to passenger Kritsada Wongduen, 23, from Kanchanaburi. More specifically, the dogs were reacting to something in his underpants.
A search of his person found 24 packets of crystal meth (ya ice) totalling 12.433 grams of the drug and 195 methamphetamine pills (ya bah) – all stuffed in his underwear.
Soldiers did not reveal whether the drugs were stuffed down the front or the back of his undergarment.
Polite as they are, the soldiers waited until 8:30am before taking Kritsada to Tha Chatchai Police Station 200 metres away for him to be charged with possession of a Category 1 drug with intent to sell.
Later yesterday, Phuket Provincial Police followed up with an arrest of their own after officers noticed 32-year-old Teeraphong Wonganansak riding his motorbike erratically in Rassada at about 4pm.
The officers stopped Teeraphong and found 50 meth pills and 2.1g of ya ice in his trouser pockets, explained Phuket Provincial Police Chief Inspector Col Akanit Danpitaksan.
A subsequent search of Teeraphong’s rented house in Soi Paniang, Samkong, uncovered a hidden cache of 472 more meth pills, a further 42.47g of crystal meth and three digital scales.
Officers also discovered a 9mm Glock handgun plus 63 bullets, a P22 Walther handgun plus 65 bullets as well as a further 33 rounds of .38-calibre bullets.
Teeraphong confessed that he ordered drugs from a “friend’ in Bangkok – but said he did not know this “friend’s name – and sold the drugs in Phuket, said Col Akanit.
“He also said that he bought the guns from another friend, and claimed that he did not know this friend’s name either,” Col Akanit said.
“Teeraphong said that teenagers placed orders with him to buy guns for them. He would buy the guns and sell them on to the teenagers,” he added.
Teeraphong was taken to Phuket City Police Station where he was charged with possession of a Category 1 drug with intent to sell and illegal possession of firearms – and now faces further questioning.