B30Mn Coke Bust At Phuket Airport

[bf2002]

International cocaine ring busted in Phuket

Really? They busted two idiots, two "mules", and that's it. Did they arrest the dealers? The men who sent the mules? Or anyone else? Nope, just the two idiots, but hey, since they were coming from outside of Thailand, that makes them an International Ring.

It's supposedly normal to tip off the thai cops on a couple of drug mules as a distraction, so as to get the real carriers thru while the cops are oggling at their big "bust".

One wonders how much drugs got thru while these great detectives enjoyed the spotlight from an anonymous type?

[guruofvinyl]

I have never been inspected by Customs in more than 40 years going in and out of Thailand. Yet hundreds of people have been arrested in the airports for smuggling drugs and yes, it is nearly always a tip off. It used to be kind of a joke that the same kg of heroin has been sold and put on a mule hundreds of times. Why? Because the BIB have their fingers in the pie and they need arrests to make themselves look good and keep control of the ":business" . Arresting mules sends a signal to those trying for business out of the loop and keeps a good number of foreigners in jail. All of this is window dressing so that the big dealers keep riding smoothly along. Thai rak Thai.

[khaowong1]

What about the Thai drug dealers that were buying the cocaine from him? Any thought to allowing him through customs, following him to his destination and busting the big guys?

Of course not. The big guys are all standing behind him in #8.

Who wants to bet the evidence disappears after our Swiss Steak is char broiled and prosecuted. Hypocrisy at its best; bad Foreigner...Good Thailand.

What about the Thai drug dealers that were buying the cocaine from him? Any thought to allowing him through customs, following him to his destination and busting the big guys?

Of course not. The big guys are all standing behind him in #8.

These were my thoughts exactly. Now they have their product and don't have to pay the mule.

[Tanaka]

Thai police seize cocaine worth Bt10 million at Phuket Airport

PHUKET: -- Thai police arrested a Swiss national and a Thai woman for attempting to carry six kilogrammes of cocaine into the country at Phuket International Airport.

Pol Maj Gen Phikat Tantipong, commander of Phuket provincial police, told a news conference Wednesday that police detained Peter Balmer, 47, a Swiss national with four kilos of cocaine and Mrs Pimpisa, 39, with two kilos of powdered cocaine at Phuket International Airport.

Mr Balmer has lived in Thailand for several years, is married to a Thai woman, and he was hired to pick up the drugs overseas to bring them to Phuket Airport, according to the police.

Both suspects were detained at Thachatchai police station for possession of a total of six kilos of cocaine worth more than Bt30 million (US$1 million). The arrest came after a tip-off about drug trafficking into the country at Phuket International Airport. The street value is Bt5 million (US$166,000) per kilo.

Mrs Pimpisa said that a foreign friend named only ‘Mike’ paid her travel to carry cocaine from Brazil and that she was to receive payment when she delivered the drug to his syndicate member.

Initially, the police didn’t believe the suspects as their passports showed they travelled into the country several times via Phuket to their destination in Bangkok.

Police presumed that they have been involved in drug trafficking a number of times and that their syndicate may be large, involving other accomplices. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-05-12

There is something wrong with this picture. Not one of the policemen is pointing at the suspects!

[Lammbock]

There is something wrong with this picture. Not one of the policemen is pointing at the suspects!

Hahahhahaha...!!!!!!!!!

You made my Day. :jap:

[piersbeckett]

Arrogance, it smacks of arrogance - you've got to be highly organised to do this successfully, people on the 'inside', shares in the profits, being a bit 'bright' ain't enough or even relevant- you gotta think outside the box - old bob dylan song, 'only a pawn in the game'

[Tolley]

Do you guys here really believe that he did this for 6K dollars.

No way.

That is what he is telling the police of course but I don't believe it for a moment.

Nobody is that stupid.

Whatever he was going to make it is all history now and he will have a long time to think about it.

How dangerous is it?

The worst thing about it is the danger to your wallet.

Addiction will empty your wallet very quickly!

[kuffki]

Lucky cocaine is rich man drug then

Do you guys here really believe that he did this for 6K dollars.

No way.

That is what he is telling the police of course but I don't believe it for a moment.

Nobody is that stupid.

Whatever he was going to make it is all history now and he will have a long time to think about it.

How dangerous is it?

The worst thing about it is the danger to your wallet.

Addiction will empty your wallet very quickly!

[Sailfish1]

All people dealing illegal drugs should be give the death penalty.

What's killing more people? Alcohol or drugs? The only reason why alcohol is such a nice? part in our community is that a lot of taxes are coming in.

Alcohol's destroying so many lives, marriages, friendships, relationships and it kills so many brain cells.

If you'd say yes to kill a drug addict, because he sold drugs being also addicted, then you shouldn't be allowed to vote. :jap:

I can't vote in Thailand anyway. However, evidently people wanted it because the death penalty is allowed within the law. Yes, alcohol can be a problem when taken in excess. There was a time in the U.S. when the government tried to eliminate it. (Prohibition), but it failed. Probably because too many people want it. Who knows if they can eliminate the use of illegal drugs like cocaine, heroin, ice, etc. but it is worth the try.

[cdnvic]

The wider debate on the legality of drugs is not the topic here.

[TAWP]

When the Swiss government canceled his pension 3 months ago, he became desperate for funds to cover overhead costs of his wife's restaurant there.

I thought the point of having a restaurant was making money?

Most people here have yet to discover that...

[TAWP]

The price of cocaine sure has come up. Thats about 6000baht a gram?

Difference between pure and adulterated.

[hanssna]

should have stayed around in south america... and used it up himself along the way. still much better way to die then in thai prison.

[overhaul38]

I am amused at the gallery of high level Thai officials posing at the arrest pictures.

[rreddin]

International cocaine ring busted in Phuket

Really? They busted two idiots, two "mules", and that's it. Did they arrest the dealers? The men who sent the mules? Or anyone else? Nope, just the two idiots, but hey, since they were coming from outside of Thailand, that makes them an International Ring.

As these arrests were the result of a tip off, one has to wonder if these two idiots were just a decoy. How many other "mules" got in undetected. Throw a couple of bones to the police to make them look good. Meanwhile, it is business as usual.

[InseeDaeng]

reportedly told police he was hired for about US$6,000 (Bt180,000) to smuggle the cocaine from Bolivia.

Ok a bit desperate to save a restaurant or whatever, but is that amount proportionate in relation to great risk of being captured and sentenced severely???

[nurofiend]

i honestly knew before i entered this thread that it would have something to do with africans....i have nothing at all against black people, its just that in the years i spent in thailand the only people i came across selling coke were african

[eirikur3]

To many young Swiss Peaple, i know, get their big pensions for silly reasons, jusst because they are lazy to work, using a little back pain excuse for example. Some of them getting big pensions from Swisss goverment buying here condos, rent them out or doing other businesses. It's amazing!!! I'm Swiss my self (don't get a p[ension) and i know plenty of them here in Pataya. Crazy, isn't it?

Yes its crazy, i get pension also and seriously i dont think i deserve it, but it keeps me alive.