Soldiers seized eight million methamphetamine pills hidden in a fruit orchard in northern Thailand.

Troops from the Pha Muang Task Force raided the farm in border province Chiang Mai on November 24, following a tip-off about a cross-border drug smuggling operation.

Officers combed the orchard and found four straw containers wrapped in black rubbish bags. Each bag was stuffed with narcotics, totalling 800,000 meth pills.

Colonel Meechai Nilasart, who led the raid, said: 'The perpetrators were not identified. Therefore, all methamphetamine pills were seized and sent to the Chiang Dao Police Station investigators for further investigation and legal action.

'Initially, it is assumed that the drug trafficking network smuggled all the methamphetamine pills from the border area and hid them here.'

Authorities believe the contraband came from across the border and were destined for inner Thailand.

Thailand has become a notorious hub for drug production and trafficking. In the north of the country, the ‘Golden Triangle' area shares borders with Laos and Myanmar, and has produced large amounts of opium since the 1950s but focus in recent years has shifted to the more profitable methamphetamine.

Officials believe most of the meth is produced in the Shan State of Myanmar before being distributed through neighbouring countries where prices are higher before ending up in the most expensive markets of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

However, cracking down on drug production has been complicated by the influx of crime gangs from China and the Burmese civil war, which has seen the army take over the country - along with control of lucrative drugs chains.