Thai authorities to block drug smuggling during Songkran

CHIANG MAI, April 10 (TNA) - Thai security officers have mobilized for searches to prevent and suppress drug smuggling during the upcoming Songkran Festival, as they have learnt that traffickers have placed about 10 million methamphetamine pills near the northern Thai border pending smuggling. The officers of Thailand's Provincial Police Region 5, railway police and local anti-narcotics officials have used sniff dogs to search for illicit drugs at the Chiang Mai railway station in the Thai North to block the drug smuggling. The move followed intelligence reports indicating that traffickers have placed about 10 million methamphetamine pills near the border adjacent to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces in the Thai North to take opportunities amid excessive travels in the upcoming Songkran Festival to smuggle drugs into Thailand. Meanwhile, Tarit Pengdit, Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said that he was scheduled to meet officials from eight concerned agencies Tuesday afternoon to follow up an investigation into a case on illicit supply of cold medicines containing stimulant pseudoephedrine from hospitals to feed narcotic production. (TNA)