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Thai police have seized 1.6 tonnes of ketamine and crystal methamphetamine hidden beneath cabbages in the bed of a pickup truck, arresting the driver on drug trafficking charges.
The 39-year-old suspect was apprehended over the weekend after stopping at a petrol station in central Ayutthaya province, police said.
Authorities discovered 900 kilograms (one US ton) of ketamine and 700 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine concealed in packages beneath sacks of the leafy vegetable, according to a police statement issued in Bangkok on Sunday.
The driver, arrested on Saturday, reportedly confessed that he had been hired to transport the drugs for 100,000 baht (about $3,000). Police said the charges carry a maximum sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment. They also suspect the drugs were trafficked from a neighbouring country, though none was specified.
Thailand remains a major hub for illegal drug trafficking in Southeast Asia, with frequent police raids and seizures of narcotics such as heroin and methamphetamine.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that a record 236 tonnes of methamphetamine were seized across East and Southeast Asia in 2024, marking a 24 percent increase from the previous year.
According to the UNODC, Thailand serves as a key transit and destination point for methamphetamine trafficked from neighbouring Myanmar and has recorded the largest volume of meth seizures in the region.
