Thai soldiers seized a million meth pills from suspected smugglers along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Border patrol troops intercepted five suspects resting in a dense forest in Chiang Rai on June 11.

Instead of complying with an inspection, the armed group were said to have drawn their firearms before shooting at the officers at around 11:30 am.

The clash lasted for five minutes as the suspects fled the scene. Authorities said no soldiers were injured or killed. Reinforcements arrived to scour the area at 1 pm.

The soldiers found five blue sacks hidden behind a thicket. Each sack contained 250,000 methamphetamine pills.

Major General Kittakorn Chanthra, commander of the Pha Muang Task Force, said: 'The evidence was sent to the Mae Fah Luang Police Station for further legal action. Units in the area have been ordered to continue ramping up drug interception and suppression at the border.'

The Pha Muang Task Force is a unit of the Royal Thai Army tasked with maintaining border security along Thailand's northern borders with Myanmar and Laos.

Chiang Rai sits along the Golden Triangle, where most of Southeast Asia's meth supply comes from.

The region 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.