Suspected drug courier in custody after release and return from Japan

Thai anti-narcotics officers took into custody for questioning a Thai woman upon her return from Japan yesterday, after Japan’s public prosecutors dropped narcotics trafficking charges against her due to insufficient evidence.

Pol Lt-Gen Archayon Kraithong, commissioner of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told the media today that the woman, identified by police as ‘Thian’ (surname withheld), had admitted that she took delivery of a package from a woman using the name ‘Ing Ing’, to be carried in her baggage to Japan.

She said that she opened the package and found several consumer products. She put them in her baggage, without thoroughly checking them, and was unaware that the instant coffee packets contained crystal methamphetamine, or Ice.

She also said that she charged 3,600 baht for the delivery service.

Pol Lt-Gen Archayon said that the instant coffer packets could easily be opened, filled with something other than or in addition to coffee and resealed properly with a plastic sealing machine easily available on e-commerce platforms, adding that, if the packets had not been carefully checked, it would not be known that they had been resealed.

He also said that the police investigation had discovered that ‘Ing Ing’ is, in fact, a Vietnamese male who entered Thailand on July 8 and was seen at a mall in the Bang Kapi area buying consumer goods, believed to be instant coffee.

The Vietnamese man left Thailand on July 14, which coincided with the arrest of Thian upon her arrival at Japan’s Fukuoka airport. A warrant has been issued in Thailand for his arrest.

A second Vietnamese national, only identified as ‘Ho’, has already been taken into Thai police custody. A third, identified only as ‘Thung’, who is believed to be a key member of this illegal narcotic trafficking gang, has been declared persona non grata in Thailand.

Archayon noted that the police have not found any connection between this gang and another which hired a Thai Airways International cabin crew member to deliver heroin soaked tote bags to a recipient in Australia. The cabin crew was arrested on June 25 at Melbourne airport.