BANGKOK: International drug traffickers gave new meaning to the local delicacy "iced watermelon" when a Malaysia-bound consignment of 300kg of the party drug ‘ice' (crystal methamphetamine) was found hidden among hundreds of watermelons inside a lorry.
The lorry was transporting the agriculture produce when it was stopped at a police checkpoint in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of Thailand, two days ago.
Upon checking its contents, the police were astonished at the quantity of "ice" hidden in the lorry and arrested three men who were in the vehicle.
Narcotics Suppression Bureau head Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk said the drug estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of baht was destined for southern Thailand where it would be smuggled into Malaysia.
During separate raids in Narathiwat and Yala on Monday (Jan 22), the authorities detained two men and two women who planned to smuggle the drug across Sungai Golok into Malaysia, he told Bernama here Tuesday (Jan 23).
Sungai Golok is a narrow river separating Narathiwat in southern Thailand and Kelantan in Malaysia.
Sommai said the seven suspects arrested in Nakhon Ratchasima and southern Thailand were assisting the police in their investigations into an international drug trafficking syndicate which facilitated the influx of drugs into Malaysia. - Bernama
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