The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) has impounded 29 plots of land, worth about Bt282 million, owned by Senator Upakit Pachariyangkun, on suspicion that the assets might have been procured through the laundering of money derived from drug trafficking.

On November 15th, the ONCB ordered the senator’s 28 bank accounts to be frozen.

The ONCB has also asked the Department of Land, the Land Transport Department, commercial banks and the Stock Exchange of Thailand to check Upakit’s assets.

Upakit and Myanmar businessman Tun Min Latt co-founded the Myanmar Allure Group, to operate the Allure Resort in Tachileik township, opposite Mae Sai district of Thailand’s Chiang Rai province.

In September last year, Tun Min Latt, Upakit’s son-in-law Dean Young Gultula and two Thais were arrested by Thai police on money laundering and narcotic trafficking charges. Over a billion baht in assets, including luxury cars, watches and cash, were seized.

An arrest warrant was issued by the Criminal Court for Upakit, but the decision was abruptly overturned, allegedly due to “interference”, and a summons was issued instead.