The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) officials are seeking help from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prosecute three Thai nationals under Thai law for their suspected involvement in a Yakuza alleged to have acquired weaponry for rebel groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Wichai Chaimongkhon, the ONCB secretary-general, said yesterday that Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin has ordered the prosecution of suspects Sompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri and Suksan Jullanan.
They were apprehended in New York last Monday and Tuesday along with alleged gang leader Takeshi Ebisawa on drugs and arms trafficking and money laundering charges, according to the US Justice Department.
The men had arranged to sell an undercover agent large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine from the rebel United Wa State Army in Myanmar.
Mr Ebisawa,…
