Police seized a total of 240,000 methamphitamine pills after a hot pursuit against a drug smuggling gang in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province early Sunday morning (Aug 20).

Acting on a tipoff that a substantial amount of ya ba was to be smuggled across from Myanmar into Mae Sai and heading southward for Bangkok, police in Mae Sai district immediately set up road blocks on a road running parallel to the border line.

At about 1am, a grey Honda sedan with a Bangkok license plate, arriving from the direction of Ban Sripadaeng-Ban Sanmana in Tambon Koh Chang and heading for Tambon Mae Sai showed up on the road.

Police manning the road block hailed for the driver to stop for a search but the driver sped past the barrier, prompting the police to give chase in their pickup truck. As the sedan passed through a school in Tambon Mae Sai, a bag was seen thrown out of the car.

Police stopped their car to investigate while another police car gave chase of the escaping sedan. The bag was found to contain 40,000 ya ba pills.

The chase went on for another 15km where the sedan stopped and two men on aboard quickly alighted and escaped. A subsequent search of the car unveiled 200,000 ya ba pills stuffed in gunny bags