Two women arrested in dramatic police chase as three million meth pills are seized

Two women were arrested with nearly three million meth pills in a dramatic police chase in Thailand.

Yupha, 38, and Saranya, 34, were allegedly moving the contraband when they were blocked by police along a highway in Surat Thani, on June 25.

The pair were said to have acted as scouts, driving ahead in a Honda sedan to check for police checkpoints.

Dashcam footage shows the police operation along Highway No. 41, as the suspects tried to weave through traffic with a grey Isuzu D-Max pickup carrying the drugs.

The truck veered onto the roadside to avoid the traffic jam, before the driver then bolted on foot into a nearby forest.

While the two women were arrested after their car was intercepted.

Officers seized 2.984 million methamphetamine pills, a grey Isuzu D-Max pickup truck used to transport the drugs, a Honda City sedan, and four mobile phones.

The raid was launched following a tip-off that a large shipment of methamphetamine pills was being moved from central Thailand to the south.

The female suspects were assigned to drive the lead vehicle, while another accomplice followed behind in the drug-loaded pickup truck.

Both women were charged with 'jointly distributing a Category 1 narcotic by possessing it for distribution without authorisation, in an act conducted for commercial purposes that allegedly caused widespread dissemination among the public and affected state security or public safety'.

Police Major General Pornsak Laorujiralai, commander of the Highway Police Division, said officers were tracking down the escaped truck driver.

He said: 'The suspects were handed over to the inquiry officer of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for further legal proceedings.

‘The investigation team are expanding the investigation to track down the pickup truck driver who fled the scene and identify the mastermind behind this operation.'

Thailand has become a notorious hub for drug production and trafficking. In the north of the country, the ‘Golden Triangle' area shares borders with Laos and Myanmar, and has produced large amounts of opium since the 1950s but focus in recent years has shifted to the more profitable methamphetamine.

Officials believe most of the meth is produced in the Shan State of Myanmar before being distributed through neighbouring countries where prices are higher before ending up in the most expensive markets of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

However, cracking down on drug production has been complicated by the influx of crime gangs from China and the Burmese civil war, which has seen the army take over the country - along with control of lucrative drugs chains.