Police seized 100 kilos of meth hidden in a car on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Border patrol officers intercepted an SUV smuggling the illegal drugs into Chiang Rai in northern Thailand on May 20.

They lifted the roof of the vehicle and found the contraband, disguised as teabags, concealed in a secret compartment. The Thai driver Supoj, 52, was arrested.

Officials said they received a tip-off that a large meth shipment was being delivered from Myanmar on an SUV. They deployed squads at two checkpoints and blocked the vehicle matching the description in the report.

Police Major Ananwat Rattanawichai, commander of the Border Patrol Police Company 327, said: 'After questioning, we extended the investigation to a rented house in Mae Sai District, where we found a stateless person Mr. Boonpan, 49, who was the tenant.

'We searched inside the room but found no other illegal items. However, we believe that both individuals were involved in this drug shipment, so we arrested them for further questioning to find other suspects involved.'

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.