3 Transnational Drug Operations Busted in Thailand

Published : May 07, 2010 :: 14:05:57 [ 7,229 views ]

Thai customs and narcotics officials detained five foreigners in three separate drug trafficking cases on Wednesday. All three cases involved the smuggling of a large quantity of illegal substances in or around the Kingdom of Thailand.

Bangkok, the 5^th of May 2010 [PDN]: Thai Narcotics Suppression police, in coalition with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), successfully apprehended three Burmese nationals in Chiang Rai, with over 30,000 Ya-Ba tablets in their possession. The trio had been waiting in front of a Tesco-Lotus outlet when the bust was instigated.

Later investigations of their Mae Sai hideout were conducted in order to gain further information that would lead investigators to the production facilities suspected to have been located in Burma (Myanmar).

Due to the relative lawless nature of the mountainous regions of Northern Thailand and particularly Myanmar, drug production and cultivation is rife. Illegal drugs including, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine are often sold markedly below cost compared to other areas of the world due to the sheer quantity manufactured in the region.

In another, unrelated incident, a Nigerian national was apprehended in Ratchaburi on a bus bound for Bangkok. Customs officers conducting a random check on the bus, which had originated from the deep southern province of Narathiwat, found over 9kg of marijuana concealed in his luggage.

The marijuana, contained in nine separate packages was estimated to have a street value of approximately Bt180,000. Resultant checks on the mans passport revealed that he frequently travelled in and around Southeast Asia and as such is now thought to be a part of a transnational drugs syndicate.

The 28-year-old man revealed that he had purchased the illegal drugs in Malaysia for Bt27,000 in total and was intending to sell the packages to several friends in Bangkok for Bt20,000 each. It is believed that he successfully entered the Kingdom of Thailand from the Sadao district checkpoint in Songkhla.

The third case involved the successful arrest of a 54-year-old Filipino woman at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. The woman was apprehended at the luggage carousels and found to have over 5kg of cocaine concealed in her luggage, worth over Bt30 million on the street.

Narcotics Suppression officers made the bust after a tip-off notifying them of the woman’s presence on a flight from Peru. The illegal class-1 drug was concealed in boxes of pastry and food supplements present in her luggage.

Drug smuggling, possession, use and distribution charges carry heavy punishments in Thailand, with major cases known to attract the death penalty, irrespective of nationality.

Comments

Bob

said :

All that yaba no longer available for sale. I would not want to be riding the overnight bus to Nakon Nowhere or driving near an 18 wheel truck tonight.

Email : Bob@haha.com Date : 2010-05-08 10:39:34

Street Justice

said :

We must be grateful to Thai authorities for their excellent efforts here. It's a good thing these drugs were intercepted before they hit the streets of Pattaya.

There are more than enough miscreants running around here who cannot tolerate even legal alcohol consumption without posing a threat to themselves or others.

Email : paynowpaylater@aol.com Date : 2010-05-08 02:19:06

luke

said :

This amazes me how many people are getting caught but the ones not must be huge.It seems there is a abundance of drugs flowing in and out of Thailand ,making it a drug capitol of southeast Asia and some abroad.

The death penalty still does not deter these poor desperate people .and I feel sad for these people.There is a better life than a quick buck ,but I presume in desperate times ,anything goes.

Email : lukeharsley@gmail.com Date : 2010-05-07 16:17:38

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