Thai police, in the Muang district of the central province of Suphan Buri, yesterday (Wednesday), offered “wai”, a traditional Thai way of greeting or showing respect, to a huge water pipe laid across a local road, which had just blocked the path of a fleeing suspected drug trafficker’s car.

The suspect was apprehended, together with 2,021 methamphetamine tablets found in his pickup truck, which had come to a stop at the pipe in Sakaew sub-district.

According to the superintendent of the Muang district police, undercover police had approached the known suspected drug trafficker to purchase 2,000 meth pills for about 19,000 baht, which the suspect agreed to sell.

The drugs were supposed to be handed over at a pre-agreed place and time yesterday. The suspect, however, changed the location of the rendezvous to a deserted local road.

As the police were approaching the new location, the suspect apparently became suspicious and sped away, forcing the police to give chase until the fleeing car arrived at the pipe blocking the road.

The suspect then abandoned his car and fled, with the police in hot pursuit. He was apprehended after a short chase.

Police later said that, without the water pipe, they would not have captured the suspect. Then they offered the wai the water pipe in a gesture of gratitude.

Villagers fishing at a nearby irrigation canal told the police that workers had laid the pipe to pump water into the canal.