Thai police fight losing battle with speed

Thai police guard 10 tons of confiscated pills worth some $126 million -- still barely a scratch on the surface of annual production

(CNN) -- It was an ambush that took a week to trigger.

Thai police and soldiers waited patiently for a shipment of methamphetamines in an area of the notorious Golden Triangle region where the three coutries of Laos, Thialand and Myanmar (formally Burma) meet.

When the convoy appeared, the subsequent gun battle between the alleged drug smugglers and troops lasted more than an hour.

After the shooting subsided the group of 30 smugglers had scattered -- six were killed.

The shootout along the Thai border with Myanmar occurred near a national park in Thailand.

When it was over police and soldiers confiscated more than one million tablets of methamphetamine, better know as 'speed'.

'Crazy drug'

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The drugs, called 'Ya Ba' or 'crazy drug', have become a serious problem for Thailand as drug producers have switched from heroin production to speed tablets.

Thailand in recent months has deployed a force of more than 12,000 soldiers along the border to combat the illegal drug trade.

There have been some successes in the battle but military officers tell CNN that they only catch about 10 percent of the drugs -- meaning that nine of every 10 pills produced slips through the net.

There are estimates that the drug smugglers push more than 100 million methamphetamine tablets through this area each year.

And that is worsening what is already a serious problem for Thailand where there are more than 300,000 drug addicts.

Here, methamphetamines have become nearly as big a problem as heroin, pushing some people over the edge.

Hostage drama

The hostage drama ended when police attacked and restrained the man

An example of this occurred this week when a hostage drama unfolded on the streets of Bangkok.

To the horror of passersby and family members, a 19-year old girl was held at knifepoint.

"He asked me for a cigarette and I gave him some. He told me he wanted to escape from someone and I asked him who? Then he came into my shops and tried to hit me and take me hostage," the girl's grandfather said.

For three hours police negotiated with the man, known to them as "Tee."

In a nation where officials say 80 percent of all crime is drug-related, it became apparent that Tee was high.

The hostage-taker cut himself during the standoff -- but fortunately not his victim.

Too common

Three hours later, police managed to subdue Tee and release the obviously shaken, but uninjured university student.

Tee was arrested and taken away by police to be interrogated and tested for drug use.

It is a scene that is becoming all too common in Thailand.

Thai authorities say that the nation has been flooded with billions of methamphetamine pills in recent years, with an average of 700 million hitting the streets each year.

Most of it comes from Myanmar, authorities say, and despite increased efforts to ward off supplies of the drug, it is a battle that is virtually impossible to win.