Thai soldiers seized thousands of meth pills from suspected drug smugglers along the Thai-Laos border.

The border patrol clashed with the alleged meth traffickers following a tip-off about an incoming drug delivery into northern Chiang Rai province, on March 2.

Officers reportedly stopped five men carrying rice sacks at a checkpoint. However, the suspects were said to have opened fire on them.

The skirmish lasted for five minutes with no one injured.

A spokesman for the Pha Muang Task Force, a special Thai military unit that handles cross-border crime near the notorious Golden Triangle region, said: 'The suspects were able to escape, but they dropped a modified illegal rifle and a bag containing more than 200,000 meth pills. The seized items have been handed over to the inquiry officer at the Wiang Kaen Police Station.'

The Golden Triangle, where most of Southeast Asia's meth supply comes from, is found where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. But it has long been a feral nest of criminal activity, including opium production, meth labs and call centre scam bases.

At the heart of the Golden Triangle lies the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), run by notorious Chinese business tycoon and suspected crime boss Zhao Wei in the Chinese vassal state Laos. Communist chiefs are said to turn a Nelsonian eye to his wrongdoing.

In 2007, Zhao brokered a deal with the Laos government and obtained a 99-year lease to build the zone on a 39-square mile patch of impoverished Bokeo province.

The Chinese businessman claims to be a benefactor as he touts the GTSEZ as a tourist and economic hub designed to bring more income and investments into the country. However, both local and international law enforcement agencies believe it is a front for organised crime, including human trafficking, drug trafficking, and call-centre scams.

International authorities have struggled to take down the gambling empire as the Laos government itself is said to be protecting the GTSEZ, in which it has a 20 per cent stake.