A truck carrying nearly 50,000 amphetamine pills worth an estimated street value of 93.6m kyat (US$93,000) crashed while attempting to run through a police roadblock in northern Shan State’s Muse District on Monday. Police arrested the driver who is now facing narcotics charges.
T-Khaung Luang, acting superintendent of Muse Police’s Anti-Narcotic Task Force, said 32-year old Muse native failed to stop his pickup truck when he approached a police checkpoint along the road to Namhkan on 10 February.
Police say the man sped off in an attempt to escape, but crashed into a hill following a high-speed chase.
“The Muse Anti-Narcotic Task Force and local police officials stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint near to Lwe Sutaung Pagoda on the Muse-Namhkan road but the driver sped off, leading to a chase,” said the officer.
“The police attempted to stop him by blocking the road ahead with a motorbike, but he rammed it over. We set up another roadblock with a truck – he then went off the road while attempting to drive around it and crashed into a hill.”
A bag containing 46,800 amphetamine pills, known in Burma as “yaba”, was found next to the driver’s seat. The driver, unharmed in the crash, has been charged with trafficking under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Law.
The officer said it was the sixth drug-related arrest in Muse District within the past week, and by far the largest bust.
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