CASH IN BOOT LEADS TO PILL HAUL

Speed Tablets Found In Police House Raids

Police following up the arrest on Wednesday of four hilltribe people on a
Bangkok expressway along with 4.35 million baht cash led to the seizure of
more than 100,000 speed pills in Chiang Rai.

Metropolitan police chief Pol Lt-Gen Anan Piromkaew said narcotics police
seized the methamphetamine tablets one day after the discovery of cash in
the boot of a taxi.

However, a suspect bearing the same surname as Suparat Loyipa, one of four
passengers arrested for allegedly possessing drug money, managed to escape,
he said. Police teams raided the suspects' houses in several northern
provinces to gather information about the gang's drug links.

Assistant metropolitan police chief Pol Maj-Gen Jakthip Kunchorn na Ayudhya
will co-ordinate legal proceedings against the suspects under the money
laundering law.

Pol Lt-Gen Anan said the four had offered to give the seized money to police
as a bribe. Scientific Crime Detection police said the money came from drug
deals.

Pol Maj-Gen Krisda Phankhongchuen, chief of Metropolitan Police Bureau
division 5, said police may bring charges under money laundering laws.

The four would be taken to the expressway for a re-enactment of the taxi
search and to the Police General Hospital for drug abuse tests, he said. On
Wednesday night, expressway police stopped to help a taxi driver change a
flat tyre and found four suitcases containing more than four million baht in
the trunk.

Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon says information has come to him
about the alleged involvement of some politicians in the drug trade, graft
and election fraud.

He was investigating the matter and charges would be laid if enough evidence
came to light.

However, he denied receiving from narcotics police the names of blacklisted
politicians.