Thai police on Sunday morning seized a large amount of amphetamine pills on an alluvial island in the Moei River, underneath the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge that spans the two countries’ common border between Myawaddy and Mae Sot.
Two Burmese men, identified as Min Ko and Sai Ko Ko, were searched by Thai police and found to be carrying 80,000 ya-ba pills and 40 million kyat (US$40,000) in cash. A third suspect escaped and is being sought by the police.
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Thailand is the most common destination for the tons of methamphetamine and amphetamine pills which are produced in Burma every year. Last year, Thai authorities busted at least a dozen vehicles carrying quantities of the drug, known in Thai as ya-ba, meaning “crazy medicine”, almost always en route from the Burmese border checkpoint at Tachilek.
Local police in Tachilek also earned a degree of success in 2014; in July, they seized a pickup truck headed for Thailand with some 59 kilograms of amphetamine pills hidden under a seat.
