Two Canadian men were arrested after allegedly leading Thai cops on a wild high-speed chase following a music festival on the party island of Phuket.
According to cops, the Sunday chase started in Patong and continued across Phuket before the drama ended in a crash in Karon.
Now, in addition to the chase and crash, the duo face a slew of drug charges after investigators allegedly located a dope cache in the black Ford pickup truck the men were travelling in. The truck left a trail of damaged vehicles before the pair were arrested.
Cops identified the two Canadians as arrested and charged: Driver Samuel Lee Jackson, 34, from Canada but born in Tehran, and Jared Liam Wong, also 34, from Vancouver.
The mayhem erupted around 4:45 p.m. on Sunday when local cops were alerted to a donnybrook outside the Patong Condo Hotel. As they arrived, the alleged suspect and his compadre fled in the pickup.
Police said the truck smashed into several vehicles en route to Karon in an attempt to escape. Officers from Karon and Patong teamed up to stop the truck’s flight.
After around 30 minutes, officers from Karon brought the fleeing vehicle to a halt.
According to detectives, during an “intense grilling,” Jackson claimed he fled the condo in Patong after he was injured in the brawl and was desperately trying to reach a hospital for medical attention. He was taken to the Patong Hospital for treatment while Wong was taken into custody for further questioning.
The Phuket News reported that the damaged truck was taken to a local police station to assess the damage and determine if anything illegal was hidden inside.
But after searching the truck and Wong’s possessions, cops allegedly discovered a pharmacy worth of illegal substances that included crystal meth mixed with cocaine, cocaine capsules, lorazepam, aprazolam, magic mushrooms, drug paraphernalia and other illicit substances.
Cops suspect the pair were pushing drugs to foreign tourists attending the EDC Thailand bash. Investigators are now working on tracing the suspects and uncovering their connections.
The investigation is still unfolding, with police digging deeper to piece together the full scale of the incident, evaluate the damage, and determine the legal charges that await the fugitives.
@HunterTOSun