Myanmar migrant caught with 112kg kratom powder

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: A Myanmar illegal migrant was arrested along Tanaosri mountain range in Muang district with 112kg of kratom powder to be sold to Myanmar crewmen, police said.

A combined team of military task force troops, border patrol police, immigration officers and local police spotted a man riding a motorcycle laden with a fertiliser sack at Hup Phueng village in tambon Huay Sai, in the mountains bordering with Myanmar, on Tuesday morning, Col Chalermphol Sangtong, deputy commander of Jong Ang Suek military task force, said during a media briefing on Tuesday.

When officers signalled the bike to stop, the rider sped off. The team gave chase and managed to arrest the man. Officers found small plastic bags of kratom powder in the fertiliser sack.

The man, identified as Kyaw Soe Rae, 40, a Myanmar national working in tambon Huay Sai in Muang district of Prachuap Khiri Khan, failed to produce official entry documents when asked, the deputy commander said.

He confessed to smuggling the drugs and later took the officers to a nearby forest area where he had hidden three fertiliser sacks containing kratom powder. Officers seized a total of 28 plastic bags containing 112kg of the powder. He was taken to the 146th Border Patrol Police Company for interrogation, said Col Chalermphol.

Jorsuarae told authorities that he had bought the kratom powder in Myanmar for 600 baht per kilo and smuggled it across the border into this southern province. The drugs were to be sold to Myanmar crewmen at Khlong Wan pier in Muang district for 900 baht per kilo, the deputy commander said.

Authorities charged him with possessing drugs classified as a Category 5 substance with intent to sell, and illegal entry. He was later handed over to police at Khlong Wan police station for legal action.

The siezure of the drugs came after Col Chalermphol ordered the combined team of officers to keep a close watch on drug smuggling in the area.-BANGKOK POST