According to NSB chief Lt Gen Sommai Kongvisaisuk, the suspect was picked up in Kelantan last Monday. He is a dual holder of Malaysian and Thailand citizenship.

The Malaysian suspect has an arrest warrant for drug charges in Thailand under his Thai name, he told Bernama, adding that the arrest was made possible following information from the Thai authorities.

Sommai did not discount the possibility the NSB might request for the man’s extradition to Thailand, but that the matter would be left to be determined by the Narcotics Control Board.

According to him, authorities believed the Malaysian suspect headed a drug smuggling network in southern Thailand, which distributed drugs it received from the north and northeast part of the country.

The request to interrogate the man in Malaysia signals the widening Thai investigation into the regional drug smuggling ring orchestrated by the “Asean drug lord”.

Sommai said initial investigations revealed that upon receiving the drugs from the northern part of Thailand, the Malaysian suspect’s network would smuggle it across the border into Malaysia for distribution to other parties.

He said the Malaysian was also linked to another wanted “drug baron” in southern Thailand, who also carried a bounty on his head, and who still remained at large.

According to the NSB chief, he was also informed by the Malaysian authorities that the Malaysian police seized more than 30 million baht (RM3.8 million) hidden at several locations of the Malaysian’s house.

On Jan 19, Thai authorities arrested the 41-year-old “Asean drug lord” at the busy Suvarnabhumi Airport, following more than five years of joint investigation by Thai and Laos police.

The Laotian suspect ran a lucrative region-wide drug smuggling ring, which allegedly supplied drugs to several countries, including Malaysia and Singapore.