Northern and southern trains are to be targeted as the northern region is the starting point of deliveries destined for the South, Jirasunt Kaewsaengaek, the Railway Police Division chief, said yesterday (Jan 27).
Their worries were reflected in figures which showed that the number of seized methamphetamine pills (ya bah) jumped to 326,000 this month from 79,000 in November last year.
Roads were still the main mode of transport for carriers but traffickers have returned to trains for their operations because drugs can be easily hidden in travel luggage placed anywhere on a carriage and trains also give them an easy way to escape, Pol Maj Gen Jirasunt said.
"They use all channels to transport drugs and trains are one of their choices,” he said. “They normally take a ride with drugs from the North and break their journey in Bangkok for a few days before taking another train to the South,” he added.
The easy escape for traffickers was illustrated in the latest case on a south-bound train from Bangkok to Sungai Kolok station in Narathiwat.
Jakraphan Kitwooncharoen simply jumped off rapid train No.171 bound for Sungai Kolok as the train was passing Prong Maduea station in Nakhon Pathom on Tuesday (Jan 26) after seeing train police checking all bags on the car in which he was sitting.
The man left three companions – Prasert Chuwichai, Malawan Neeranon and Jongjit Rienkham – behind and they were arrested and taken to a news briefing at the railway police head office in Bangkok on yesterday.
Pol Maj Gen Jirasunt said the three looked suspicious when officers approached them, leading to the decision to search their three bags where 170,000 ya bah pills were found.
The three accused Mr Jakraphan of being the key man who had been contracted by a drug dealer in Chiang Rai to deliver the goods to Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
Mr Prasert said he was a rubber farmer in Nakhon Sri Thammarat who was to be paid B100,000 once the delivery was made. He was forced to join the gang after rubber prices plunged.
It was another major drug bust on a train in less than two weeks.
On Jan 17, police found 156,000 ya bah pills on express train No.37 from Bangkok to Sungai Kolok and arrested Arthit Thipwasri and a 17-year-old woman. A subsequent search at their house in Hat Yai district in Songkhla also found one bag of crystal methamphetamine (ya ice) weighing 710 grams.
The worries about traffickers returning to trains began in November last year after railway police seized 79,000 ya bah tablets on the same express train.
“We have caught some traffickers with only a small number of drugs since March last year. The catch in November gave us a hint that traffickers are coming back on trains,” Pol Maj Gen Jirasunt said.
Every train will have two railway police on board but they can be reinforced at any station on the route if the division suspects there are drugs on the train, the railway police chief added.
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