Three Malaysians mastermind attempt to smuggle large amount of drugs into Malaysia: Thai police

BANGKOK: The Thai authority has revealed that the attempt to smuggle a large amount of drugs into Malaysia two weeks ago was masterminded by three Malaysian men.
They were said to have planned the smuggling of 226kg of methampetamine (ice) and 8kg of heroin using a group of 21 drug mules carefully to ensure their movements were not detected by either the Thai or the Malaysian authorities.
In a recent interview with Bernama, Police Colonel Puttidej Bunkrapue from the Thailand Railway Police, said the three masterminds of the syndicate who were only known as "K", "L" and "C", however, managed to get away at the very last minute.
"We (Thai Police) have all evidence about the masterminds' activities, including from the footage of the closed circuit television cameras at the hotel they stayed in and the cars they rented," he said.
The Thai Police estimated the value of the drugs at approximately RM400 million (4 billion baht) when it reached the more lucrative black market in Europe.
Puttidej said based on the information from the National Immigration Department, the three masterminds had entered Thailand more than 30 times, hence proved that they were experienced in the illegal business.
The Thailand Railway Police was the main agency in the investigation of the case because the offence was committed on a train route and it was responsible for the arrest of the 21 Malaysian drug mules.
According to Puttidej, the Thai Police had handed over the information on the three masterminds to Bukit Aman to facilitate the efforts to track them down.
Bukit Aman Narcotic CID director Datuk Mokhtar Mohd Shariff was in Bangkok recently.
Puttidej said as the main planners, the three men were believed to have gone to Chiang Mai much earlier to complete the sale and purchase transaction of the drugs.
Unlike the 21 drug mules who arrived in Chiang Mai by train from Bangkok, the three masterminds had traveled to the north Thailand resort city on a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur.
Once the purchase transaction in Chiang Mai was completed, the trio boarded a flight to Hatyai in southern Thailand and waited for the drug supply to be transported by the drug mules using the rail transport.
Puttidej said the Thai Police believed they had purchased the drugs from a 'drug factory' hidden in the jungles of Myanmar close to the border of north Thailand which was controlled by powerful drug syndicate in the Myanmar-Thailand border.
"It is highly possible that the syndicate had used the Hmong ethnic minority living at the border area to smuggle in the drugs to Chiang Mai and handed it over to the three masterminds," he said.

At the Chiang Mai train station, the drugs were transferred into tens of backpacks which would be carried by the drug mules on the 12-hour trip to the Hualamphong railway station in Bangkok.
They all arrived in Bangkok on March 22 and continued the train trip to Hatyai on March 23 in an attempt to cross the border gate in north Malaysia with the drugs.
Puttidej said the three masterminds were already waiting in Hatyai with several cars for the subsequent phase of their plan to smuggle the drugs into Malaysia, this time using land route.
"They wanted to avoid using the entry gate at Padang Besar because of the very tight control of the authorities and opted for land route which they believed would be safer," he said.
Little did they know, their plan had been detected by the Thai Police who had set up a trap and arrested 15 of the drug mules at the Hua Hin, Ratchaburi and Prachuabkirikan railway stations.
The other six were nabbed in a van in Phattalung en route to the Malaysian border after leaving their drug supplies at the Chumphon railway station in Surat Thani, he said.
"The three masterminds, who were waiting in Hatyai, somehow knew that their plan had failed and quickly escaped by reentering Malaysia," Puttidej said.
He said the trio also abandoned several cars which they had rented in Hatyai to ferry the drugs.
"The hunt for the three main masterminds of the syndicate is now led by the Malaysian police," Puttidej said, adding that he was confident that the trio would be arrested soon. — Bernama