The vice chairman of a Tambon (sub-district) Administrative Organisation (TAO) was apprehended, with another man, at a petrol station in the Somdet district of Thailand’s north-eastern province of Kalasin on Sunday, after police found 216,000 methamphetamine tablets in their car.

The two suspected drug traffickers have been identified as “Narongsak” and “Yutthaphol”, who police say is the vice chairman of a TAO in Tha Uthen district of Nakhon Phanom province.

Yutthaphol denied he had anything to do with the illicit drugs, which were hidden under the rear seat upholstery, but police took him into custody anyway, claiming that they had been surveilling them for quite some time.

Police said that the meth pills were intended for distribution to dealers in Khon Kaen, Roi-et and Kalasin provinces.