PHUKET: Phuket police have cracked a regional network of drug dealers caught with methamphetamine valued at 13.5 million baht and armed with four pistols in one of the biggest drugs hauls yet on Phuket.
The arrests were announced yesterday along with a campaign that will target the 57 Phuket communities where residents have admitted drug problems exist.
The big-haul dealers, three men and a woman, are to be sent to Region 8 police headquarters in Songkhla to be interrogated about their network contacts, Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong said yesterday.
He was speaking at a media presentation at Phuket City's Police HQ where the four were on-show with the 25,900 ya bahya ice and the four weapons.
The four, who police said have confessed, were arrested yesterday in different places, with the biggest haul coming at an east Phuket tourist pier.
It is believed the police used the smaller dealers to entice larger dealers into contact.
They are: Wichai Sapparot, 26, from Phang Nga, Sunari Budsisuay, 23, from Nongkai, SDupan Jandang, 40, from Phang Nga, and Adul Tongklang, 22, from Phuket.
Police were not divulging details out of concern for alarming other dealers but it is known that the majority of the drugs were taken when police pounced on a longtail boat at Bangrong Pier, a stopping-off point for Phang Nga Bay tourist trips, where they siezed Adul and a vast quantity of hidden drugs.
Major General Pekad also said that 400 Phuket communities had been questioned about drugs and 57 had been identified with drug problems. One officer would be assigned to each of the communities, Major General Pekad said.
The arrests were announced yesterday along with a campaign that will target the 57 Phuket communities where residents have admitted drug problems exist.
The big-haul dealers, three men and a woman, are to be sent to Region 8 police headquarters in Songkhla to be interrogated about their network contacts, Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong said yesterday.
He was speaking at a media presentation at Phuket City's Police HQ where the four were on-show with the 25,900 ya bahya ice and the four weapons.
The four, who police said have confessed, were arrested yesterday in different places, with the biggest haul coming at an east Phuket tourist pier.
It is believed the police used the smaller dealers to entice larger dealers into contact.
They are: Wichai Sapparot, 26, from Phang Nga, Sunari Budsisuay, 23, from Nongkai, SDupan Jandang, 40, from Phang Nga, and Adul Tongklang, 22, from Phuket.
Police were not divulging details out of concern for alarming other dealers but it is known that the majority of the drugs were taken when police pounced on a longtail boat at Bangrong Pier, a stopping-off point for Phang Nga Bay tourist trips, where they siezed Adul and a vast quantity of hidden drugs.
Major General Pekad also said that 400 Phuket communities had been questioned about drugs and 57 had been identified with drug problems. One officer would be assigned to each of the communities, Major General Pekad said.
