15 'drug smugglers' killed in clash with Thai soldiers near Myanmar border, say officials

Following a gunfight with Thai soldiers, fifteen suspected drug smugglers were killed and around two million methamphetamine tablets were recovered from them in northern Thailand, close to the Myanmar border, said Thai officials. Phanurat Lukboon, acting secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, told Associated Press that the clash took place on Saturday night after the local army was tipped off about potential smuggling operations in Chiang Rai province near the border. According to Phanurat, police discovered a group of roughly 20 persons carrying backpacks in the neighbourhood. Additionally, he said that the group started shooting at the officers when they identified themselves and requested to examine the luggage. The clash lasted around 15 minutes and the Thai officers were all safe, Phanurat said while on a visit to the site where the incident occurred. He thanked the officers for their help in “preventing these awful things from entering our country and destroying our youth.” Seventeen backpacks made from fertilizer sacks were found with the suspected smugglers and more than 2 million methamphetamine pills were inside the bags, officials said. No arrests were made and officials were still working to identify the 15 people killed in the clash and the origin of the drugs, according to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board. On Wednesday, Thailand announced it had seized 50 million methamphetamine tablets in the western province of Kanchanaburi, also near the Myanmar border. It was said to be a record haul of the drug in the country. Myanmar has historically been Southeast Asia’s main drug production area in part because of lax security measures in border areas where minority ethnic groups have long been fighting for greater autonomy. Some of the powerful ethnic armed groups there have been heavily involved in narcotics production for decades. A 2021 military takeover in Myanmar that unseated the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi triggered armed resistance nationwide, further destabilizing the country and contributing to an increase in its drug production. Last week, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its “Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023” that Myanmar has topped Afghanistan to become the world’s biggest opium producer. The UN drug agency’s June 2023 report on synthetic drugs in East and Southeast Asia warned that the huge trade in methamphetamine and other illegal drugs shows no signs of slowing down. With inputs from agencies