Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai customs' spokesman Chaiyuth Khamkhun told Thai Rath about two seizures of cocaine brought into Thailand hidden in a stomach and bags at Phuket and Suvarnabhumi airports in the last week. 

 

He said that post pandemic more tourists meant more drugs and the AITF - Airport Interdiction Task Force - were ready.

 

There were two cases.

 

On 9th June at Phuket International Airport a 29 year old man from South Africa had arrived on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 12.30 pm.

 

Nothing was found in his bags but an x-ray at Talang Hospital revealed a large number of round and oval packages in his stomach.

 

He was taken back to the airport where later these packages were revealed to be 115 lumps of the Class 2 drug cocaine amounting to 1.49 kilos worth 4.47 million baht.

 

The second case involved the arrival of three travellers from Brazil who arrived at Suvarnabhumi on Monday 13th with five bags.

 

An xray revealed something suspicious and in the specially adapted luggage 15.70 kilos of cocaine worth 47 million baht was found. 

 

It was in thick blocks wrapped in plastic and black tape.

 

All three people were charged with smuggling. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-06-18

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Easiest way to own or rent a car in Thailand - click here to find out more!

 

Get your business in front of millions of customers who read ASEAN NOW with an interest in Thailand every month - email [email protected] for more information

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

Nothing was found in his bags but an x-ray at Talang Hospital revealed a large number of round and oval packages in his stomach.

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

5 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

There has been a few mules arrested with drugs inside them

coming from Ethiopia , before the Covid thing, starting up again,

with nearly 1.5 Kg of Cocaine inside him I am sure he looked a bit

uncomfortable.

regards Worgeordie 

somewhat misleading title,  drug smuggling mules are not really tourists

Surely, this should be seen as a very positive thing. 51 million baht of drugs have been taken out of the hands of these criminals & when Thai customs sort out the 45 million baht worth of drugs and then hand the stash of 38 million baht of drugs over to the cops, then a case can be built.

 

Once the judge is made aware that these people tried to smuggle almost 27 million baht of drugs into the country, he/she will come down hard on them and put them in jail for life.

 

At the end of it all, the 11 million baht's worth of drugs will be disposed off in a furnace and these 6 million baht of drugs will be no more. This is good news for everyone. ???? 

11 minutes ago, hughrection said:

Thai customs sort out the 45 million baht worth of drugs and then hand the stash of 38 million baht of drugs over to the cops..............

.............that's where it all starts to go wrong.

2 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

.............that's where it all starts to go wrong.

It goes wrong well before that. I am sure the customs officers wet themselves when they catch someone initially.

Taking drugs to Thailand is like bringing owls to Athens...

4 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

Too big, and better looking than airline food... ????

5 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

Customs were told in advance while the other 10 passengers carrying concealed drugs walked past.

Edited June 18, 20224 yr by Satcommlee

6 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

the extended stomach where a person is not a woke pregnant male, appears to be the tell

7 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

They spotted it with an X Ray.

4 hours ago, Will B Good said:

.............that's where it all starts to go wrong.

What are you suggesting?? LOL

7 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

I wonder how they spotted this... ????

A lot goes on body language from what I have read, also use sniffer dogs trained to detect drugs

Edited June 18, 20224 yr by Photoguy21

8 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

somewhat misleading title,  drug smuggling mules are not really tourists

For God's sake dont tell TAT that!

Those are drug smugglers.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 20224 yr by garyk

Do we see increased number of Africans on Sukhumvit street? Last time I left Thailand in 2021, there was not single african on the street of Sukhumvit. 

More tourists means more drugs 

So the solution is....?

No tourists.......No drugs....????

13 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

More tourists means more drugs 

So the solution is....?

No tourists.......No drugs....????

Or maybe no drugs....no tourists

On 6/18/2022 at 9:46 AM, Bday Prang said:

somewhat misleading title,  drug smuggling mules are not really tourists

Obviously what they mean is that tourists consume these drugs, so smuggling increases when tourism rises. The locals have their local drug already aside of booze.

Edited June 19, 20224 yr by ChaiyaTH

 this is a fine example of the benefits of "profiling" I would think it is standard practice to X-ray anybody coming here from Addis Ababa whilst the rest of the less suspicious tourists can pass through customs  relatively quickly.  Compare this to the UK for example where "profiling" is considered inappropriate and not allowed (officially)   So everybody gets checked resulting in huge queues and missed flights. Despite the fact that ... well I'm not going to say it but you all know what I mean

And NOTHING to do with weed!