Thai police say they have killed 51 people and arrested more than 50,000 in the first 75 days of a government crackdown on drug dealers which has provoked an outcry from human rights groups.
Thailand's murder death toll since the war on drugs began on February 1 had reached 2,275, compared with a usual monthly average of 500, national police bureau spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said in a statement on Wednesday.
The killings attributed to the police were all in self-defence, he added. The police have previously said the other drug-related killings were due to inter-gang warfare.
Pongsapat said more than 14 million pills of stimulant methamphetamine and $24 million (15 million pounds) in assets belonging to drugs suspects had been confiscated during the campaign.
Police say about one billion methamphetamine pills are consumed in Thailand every year. The drug is produced in secret factories in the Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. The region is also a major source of opium and its refined form, heroin.
