Police in Thailand have seized 1.6 tonnes of ketamine and crystal methamphetamine concealed beneath cabbages in the bed of a pickup truck, arresting a 39-year-old suspect over alleged drug trafficking.
Authorities said the suspect was apprehended over the weekend at a petrol station in Ayutthaya Province in central Thailand after officers searched the vehicle and discovered 900 kilograms of ketamine and 700 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden under sacks of the leafy vegetable.
According to police in Bangkok, the suspect confessed during interrogation that he had been hired to transport the drugs for 100,000 baht (about $3,000).
Officials added that the drugs were suspected to have been trafficked from a neighbouring country, although the exact source was not disclosed.
Under Thai law, the trafficking charges carry a possible sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.
Thailand remains a major transit and destination hub for illicit narcotics in Southeast Asia, with frequent police operations targeting shipments of methamphetamine and other hard drugs.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that a record 236 tonnes of methamphetamine were seized across East and Southeast Asia in 2024, representing a 24 per cent increase compared with the previous year.
The agency also identified Thailand as a key transit and destination point for methamphetamine trafficked from neighbouring Myanmar, noting that the country recorded the largest volume of meth seizures in the region.
