Authorities in the upper northeastern Nakhon Panom province arrested 2 men final evening on charges of smuggling 220 kilograms of marijuana. Outlawed told police they they did it as a end result of they needed cash after the Covid-19 outbreak left them unemployed.
The arrests got here after authorities obtained a tip that a drug gang deliberate to smuggle marijuana from Laos into Nakhon Phanom through That Phanom district. A navy patrol noticed 2 suspicious automobiles travelling alongside the route and stopped them at an intersection. When they searched the car, they found 220 bars of compressed marijuana inside 5 sacks.
The commander of a naval unit in Nakhon Phanom says officers seized a Toyota Vios with Bangkok licence plates and an Isuzu pickup, also with Bangkok plates, from the pair. Authorities say the seized marijuana is of a excessive grade that may fetch 25,000-30,000 baht per kilogram.
During questioning, the suspects confessed that the medicine had been smuggled throughout the Mekong River from Laos in a longtail boat. They mentioned they have been hired for 20,000 baht to take the marijuana to Ubon Ratchathani, the place different couriers would pick it up.
47 yr old Khamdaeng Chanhom and 48 yr previous Phon Joralee, both from Isaan’s Ubon Ratchathani province, are in custody pending authorized motion. Police say the pair claim they were made jobless through the Covid-19 outbreak and had no choice but to deliver the medicine.
Authorities say they’ll expand their investigation to find others concerned, and that marijuana smuggling appears to be on the rise. During the past 2 months alone, more than 2 tonnes of marijuana have been seized in Nakhon Phanom. Last year, about 8 tonnes of marijuana had been seized there..