Police in Laos seize meth pills in one of biggest busts

BANGKOK (AP) — A U.N. anti-crime agency official says authorities in northwestern Laos have made their third largest seizure ever of methamphetamine, confiscating a haul of 33 million tablets along with 1,100 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. The bust came after 200,000 tablets were found Friday night in a truck and the interrogation of the driver led to an even bigger seizure. Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, says the truck was stopped near a casino located in a special economic zone that operates virtually autonomously of Laotian law. Such zones are found in the neighboring countries of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, all of which have loose law enforcement and have struggled with organized crime.