Much of the regional heroin manufacturing takes place in the Golden Triangle, a remote border region where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand all meet. - AFP
BANGKOK: Thai police estimate that drugs seized from 21 members of a Malaysian syndicate last Wednesday are worth four billion baht (RM456mil) on the black market.
According to a source, both the Thai and Malaysian police were shocked at the amount of drugs seized – 226kgs of the synthetic drug ice and 8kg of heroin.
“The Thai investigation team is in the process of finding out the real mastermind,” he told Bernama.
In view of the huge amount of the drugs, he said that Thai police believed that its main destination was not Malaysia but another country in Europe.
“The drug market in Malaysia and Thailand is not that big,” he said, adding that the stash was to be sent to another destination as soon as it reached Malaysia.
He said the syndicate obtained the drugs via Chiangmai but there was a possibility they originated from the Golden Triangle.
Last Wednesday, Thai police detained 15 syndicate members who were Malaysian citizens at eight railway stations in the Ratchaburi, Hua Hin, Prachuabkirikan and Surat Thani provinces.
They were travelling by train to Butterworth. In follow-up operations the same day, six Malaysians were detained while they were getting into a van in Haadyai.
It is understood that the six Malaysians had tried to flee towards Haadyai when they realised that the Thai police were conducting an operation at the Surat Thani railway station, leaving behind their bags which contained drugs.
Three Bukit Aman narcotics officers have arrived in Bangkok to assist the Thai police in their investigations into the 21 Malaysians.
