Thalang policemen received a tip off around 5.30am that a package containing heroin would be delivered to Phuket on a bus coming from Narathiwat, and would arrive at a gas station in Thalang.
When police arrived at the gas station, they found Wig Nillawan, 52, a Thalang resident, who had already collected the package of heroin.
“Once Mr Wig saw us, he tried to escape on his motorbike,” said Pol Lt Col Weerayut Sitthirattanakul, of Thalang Police.
“But a policeman chased him, then he fell off his bike, so we arrested him. He was carrying a box containing 10 tubes of heroine, each around 5 grams each. He told us he sprinkles the heroin on top of a marijuana joint and smokes it.”
Mr Wig confessed to police he usually purchased the heroin from a man named Supachai “Ood” Samniang, 46, who lives in Sri Soonthorn.
Yesterday afternoon Wig took police to Ood’s house, where they found Ood and two other farm workers. All three admitted they used heroin, but no drugs were found in the house.
However, the police did find a shotgun with two rounds of ammunition. Ood told police the shotgun was his, but originally it belonged to a man named Mangkorn Lohapong.
Ood lent him B20,000, and in return took his shotgun as a deposit. However there was no paperwork, so Ood was arrested on illegal possession of a shotgun.