Thai law enforcement officials reported on Monday that they seized more than a ton of crystal methamphetamine destined for Australia last week in a southern province.
The 1.2 metric tons (2,646 pounds) of the substance, also known as “ice,” reportedly originated from Thailand’s northern frontier region, which is part of the Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet.
Myanmar is a significant producer of methamphetamine, which has replaced opium and its refined form, heroin, as the prevalent illegal substance in Southeast Asia for both domestic consumption and export over the past decade.
Decades of political instability have rendered the border regions of Myanmar primarily unregulated and exploitable by drug producers and traffickers.
In a report issued in May of 2012, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime warned that the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine are on the rise in the region. In 2021, it was reported that the amount of methamphetamine tablets seized in East and Southeast Asia surpassed one billion for the first time.
The methamphetamine that was seized in Songkhla province on Wednesday was disguised as tea containers. Officials announced at a press conference that the three suspects suspected of transporting the illegal substance had evaded capture. making it difficult to know the perpetrators’ intentions.
Wichai Chaimongkol, secretary general of the Narcotics Control Board, stated that authorities had hoped to track the drugs to their final destination in Australia in order to arrest higher-ranking members of the trafficking gang. However, the three suspected smugglers in Songkhla became aware that they were being observed.
According to Wichai, Thai officials assume the drugs concealed in a house and two pickup vehicles were intended to be smuggled to Australia by sea.
Recent inspections, particularly in Bangkok in March and April, confiscated drugs for Australia.
The Australian police reported in 2019 that they discovered 1,6 metric tons of meth concealed in stereo speakers transported from Bangkok along the Melbourne waterfront. In November of last year.
Thai narcotics officials reported that during the fiscal year ending in September 2022, they had intercepted 22 instances of drugs destined for Australia disguised in various forms, including pillowcases coated with methamphetamine.
The amount of 1,008 billion amphetamine tablets confiscated in 2021 was seven times greater than the amount seized a decade earlier, according to a report published by the United Nations last year.
It warned that increased production makes the substance more affordable and accessible, posing a greater threat to individuals and communities.