Thai soldiers clashed with suspected drug traffickers in a forested area in the country’s north near the border with Myanmar, killing 15 people, authorities said Thursday.
Soldiers encountered the group of suspects carrying backpacks on Wednesday evening and ordered them to stop, but opened fire instead, according to the Pha Muang Task Force, the military unit in charge of security in Thailand’s northern border provinces.
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A firefight ensued for about 10 minutes, the agency said. No soldiers were injured, but on Thursday morning, when the military returned to inspect the scene in Fang district, Chiang Mai province, they found 15 suspected traffickers dead and 29 backpacks filled with methamphetamines, authorities said.
Thai soldiers stand with seized packages of illegal drugs and the body of a suspected smuggler at the scene of a gunfight a day earlier in Fang District in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, Dec. 8, 2022.
(Force Pha Muang via AP)
It was still being investigated whether the suspects had brought the methamphetamine from Myanmar. The route is common for drug smuggling into Thailand.
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The exact amount of crystal meth seized was also not immediately available, and the task force did not say whether any suspects are believed to have escaped.
