Thai Police Kill Five Drug Smugglers

Officers stand guard as narcotics officials prepare to burn drugs in a high-powered oven in Ayutthaya province in a in a June 26, 2014 file photo. Photo: Narong Sangnak / EPA

BANGKOK (DPA) — ​Thai border police killed five drug traffickers during a shootout near the Myanmar border, an officer said Wednesday.

The incident occurred in the northern province of Chiang Mai. None of the police were injured, the sub-inspector of Chiang Dao border police said.

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"All of them were armed," Lieutenant Narin Boochuay said. "Five of them were killed during the clash but the other five escaped."

The group was smuggling bags containing more than 400,000 pills of methamphetamine into Thailand from Myanmar, he said.

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The borders between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos are popular routes for the international drug trade in the region.