BANGKOK, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A Lao national was sentenced here on Tuesday to life imprisonment on charges of trafficking 1.2 million tablets of methaphetamine from Laos to Thailand.

Thailand's Criminal Court ruled the Lao male, identified as Xaysana Keopimpha, 42, guilty of trafficking the 1.2 million speed pills aboard a van from Laos to Nong Khai province in northeastern Thailand in September 2016.

Xaysana was arrested alongside several Thai drug trafficking suspects at varied spots in Thailand early last year.

The court eventually toned down the penalty for Xaysana from a death sentence to the life term in jail due to his confession to the drug trafficking charges during police investigation.

The Thais who had been charged as alleged accomplices to the Lao drug trafficker included some who had been arrested and others who have remained at large as yet, police said.

The smuggled methamphetamine had been allegedly destined for southern Thailand and somewhere in Malaysia, the police said.