Boy arrested with 16kg heroin stash

By Apinya Suksaengsri 
The Nation

 

A 15-year-old Chiang Rai hill-tribe boy was arrested on Wednesday while allegedly transporting 16 kilograms of heroin in Phrae’s Muang district.

 

Highway police on the way back from a nearby checkpoint found the boy, whose name was withheld due to his age, in a Toyota Soluna sedan that was suspiciously parked in roadside bushes in Tambon Mae Lai at 6am. 

 

Officers approached to ask him questions and to search his vehicle. They found two sacks containing 16 kilograms of heroin and the boy then reportedly admitted that he had collected the sacks from Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district to deliver to a customer in central Thailand.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30329608

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-10-18

Send a boy,to do a mans work.,this is what happens.

regards worgeordie

Send a boy,to do a mans work.,this is what happens.
regards worgeordie

Because men never get caught. What fantasy world are you in?

2 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

6 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Send a boy,to do a mans work.,this is what happens.
regards worgeordie

Because men never get caught. What fantasy world are you in?

You must not be familiar with sarcasm ,dont take things so literally. 

regards worgeordie

 

And probably the poor miserable fellow did it for 1'000 BaHT !?!!

He was fifteen years old and found in a Toyota sedan, which presumably he was the driver of, since no other persons are mentioned. With 16 kg of heroin, which is a huge amount. I've no idea what the street value of that much heroin is, but it will be big bucks, well over a million dollars I'd imagine. Less of course to the supplier, but still a lot of money. And they entrusted it to someone who is an underage driver, and so likely to attract the attention of the law anyway.

 

I know that we're talking about Thailand here, but even for the Land of Smiles that looks odd. Fifteen? Driving to Central Thailand? A million dollars worth of drugs? Either the people who sent the boy are exceedingly stupid, or there's more to this than is immediately obvious. It just doesn't make sense.

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

You must not be familiar with sarcasm ,dont take things so literally. 

regards worgeordie

Yeah the kid should stop horsing around

4 hours ago, nisakiman said:

I've no idea what the street value of that much heroin is, but it will be big bucks, well over a million dollars I'd imagine.

 

I recall a movie where Mel Gibson played a drug smuggler, and he heard on the radio that the shipment he was waiting for was discovered "with a street value of (some astronomical figure)" to which he remarked "and on which street is that?"

 

 

"Boy arrested with 16kg heroin stash"

 

Doesn't take long to build up a heavy habit. 

Smack seizures are rare. Not heard about one if these for ages.

12 hours ago, observer90210 said:

 

And probably the poor miserable fellow did it for 1'000 BaHT !?!!

Yeah, he desperately needed money to obtain a driving license.

If it were up to western police, they would arrange for the boy to deliver the goods (or facsimile), and thereby arrest those on the receiving end.  But Thai police can't take it to the next level.

 

I don't care as much about trafficking drugs as I do about trafficking animals parts.  I've heard a number of stories how Thai cops catch a trafficking 'mule' ....but are then incapable of following-up in order to try and catch the king pins.  It's not a big mystery why.  (hint: the kingpins are often well-connected and rich)

 

 

16 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Send a boy,to do a mans work.,this is what happens.

regards worgeordie

BS. No heroin smuggler leaves 16 kgs (35 lbs) with a kid. Probably corn flour.  

11 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

Yeah the kid should stop horsing around

 

I see what you did there ;-)

9 hours ago, bendejo said:

 

I recall a movie where Mel Gibson played a drug smuggler, and he heard on the radio that the shipment he was waiting for was discovered "with a street value of (some astronomical figure)" to which he remarked "and on which street is that?"

 

 

Heh! Yes, there is that!

 

I just did a rough calculation based on the fact that in London in the 1980s a gram of cocaine was around the £60 mark, assumed a similar value for heroin, and came up with 16,000 grams x £60 = £960,000. Add inflation and convert to dollars, and you have over a million. I have no idea if I'm anywhere near the correct value, but I suspect I'm not too far off the mark. Whatever, it's a lot to entrust to a fifteen year old driving a car for which he doesn't have a licence.

2 hours ago, nisakiman said:

Heh! Yes, there is that!

 

I just did a rough calculation based on the fact that in London in the 1980s a gram of cocaine was around the £60 mark, assumed a similar value for heroin, and came up with 16,000 grams x £60 = £960,000. Add inflation and convert to dollars, and you have over a million. I have no idea if I'm anywhere near the correct value, but I suspect I'm not too far off the mark. Whatever, it's a lot to entrust to a fifteen year old driving a car for which he doesn't have a licence.

 

Retail price for a gram of heroin in Thailand was 3100 THB in 2004    (Source: https://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2006/wdr2006_chap5_opium.pdf   page 365)

Prices now are actually lower having dropped to about 2750 THB per gram   (Source:   http://www.havocscope.com/tag/thailand/ )

 

Good thing he is under age. He probably will survive this adventure. 

A fifteen year old by statute is only liable for 1/2 the scale of punishment of an adult in Thailand, and may be far less depending on circumstances.
Given that as recently as 2009 two men were executed for trafficking, and life sentences are common, that goes far to explain why they would use a kid as a mule.
What is strange is putting so much product with a single courier. Why not hire four kids and spread the risk?
Maybe I should not be posting logical solutions for the ring leaders to see.
Then again, perhaps that is what they ARE doing, and they just lost a smaller percentage of their inventory than assumed. 

On 10/19/2017 at 12:13 AM, Aussieroaming said:

Yeah the kid should stop horsing around

...or he's going to get smacked!