Seizures and shoot-outs so far this year involving the Task Force – which one source familiar with the unit describes as the “tip of the spear” in Thailand’s operations to contain drugs from the Golden Triangle – appear to signal that 2023 will be another bloody chapter in the undeclared battle on the borders of the drug-producing region. Those operations led to the arrest of 320 suspects and the killing of 27 others. In a nine-month period up to June last year, the force launched more than 260 operations that resulted in the seizure of 54 million methamphetamine pills, 177kg (390 pounds) of the tranquilliser ketamine, 120kg (264 pounds) of the crystal meth known as “ice” and 12kg (26 pounds) of heroin, according to the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS). The officer was not authorised to speak with the media, so he could give few details, but the Task Force’s numbers speak for themselves. They monitor where we deploy and change their routes,” the officer told Al Jazeera. “If we reinforce in Chiang Rai, they move to Chiang Mai. Meanwhile, the death toll from gun battles involving Thai forces and cross-border smugglers adds up in dozens.Īn officer with Thailand’s elite anti-narcotics Pha Muang Task Force army unit, based in Chiang Mai city, described the enormity of the challenge in securing hundreds of kilometres of border territory with neighbouring Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 2021, and Laos. Methamphetamine pill seizures from the Golden Triangle are now regularly counted in the millions, while crystal methamphetamine, heroin and ketamine shipments are calculated in the hundreds of kilograms. It is made all the more difficult due to the heavily-militarised and largely-lawless territory the producers and traffickers operate from in the Golden Triangle – located at the meeting point of the jungled borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Chiang Rai, Thailand – In the far north of Thailand, a deadly conflict is playing out between drug syndicates and Thai security forces working to stop a flood of narcotics from the region known as the Golden Triangle.ĭrug shipment sizes are staggering and the body count rising in this low-intensity battle against increasingly sophisticated drug producers and traffickers.
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