Original Story An enema, laxatives, a wait, and he's busted The Nation .. Published on Feb 21, 2004 A Nepalese man has been arrested here in possession of more than 10,000 amphetamine tablets, police said yesterday. It took police an X-ray, a strong dose of laxatives, an enema and more than 12 hours to secure the evidence. Mae Sai deputy police superintendent Lt-Colonel Chinawit Wichaithanapat and other officers had followed Jayalama Tamaeng, 33, from Tha Din Dam, tambon Kaw Chang, to his room in the Yunnan Hotel in Mae Sai district, about one kilometre from the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint. Tamaeng, police said, had stayed at Bangkok's backpacker Mecca of Khao San Road, before leaving for Mae Sai on February 13. On his arrival in the north he crossed the border into Burma where it was alleged he bought amphetamine pills in Tachilek and swallowed them. He then returned to Thailand and planned to deliver the drugs to another Nepalese national in Bangkok, Mae Sai police superintendent Colonel Wichai Rooplek said. Tameng was arrested alone in his hotel room after some initial resistance. His passport revealed his name and age and showed he had entered the Kingdom two months ago. Police sent him for an X-ray at the Mae Sai Hospital. The X-ray indicated his stomach contained cylindrical objects. After laxatives were administered and an enema performed, a hexagonal-shaped object about 3 centimetres long and wrapped in plastic was released. Inside the package was a new line of orange amphetamine tablets marked with the brand "WY". The drugs were packed in straws. Each straw held 10 tablets, then seven straws were combined into a hexagon-shaped package containing 70 tablets. Those packages were wrapped in clear plastic, apparently to prevent membranous irritation. About 150 packages, or about 10,000 tablets, were released from his stomach during a period of almost 12 hours. Chiang Rai police chief Maj-General Jamnong Kaewsiri, said organised networks had been effectively cut off from cross-border trade, forcing buyers to secure drugs themselves rather than using middlemen. Jamnong said swallowing such a large amount of amphetamine required special training, but another popular method of evading police was concealing the pills in canned fruit of respectable brands. The Nation CHIANG RAI
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