Four hunted over links to Australia's 'Meena' drug case

The Department of Special Investigation has sought warrants from the Criminal Court for the arrests of four more suspects linked to THAI cabin crew member’s drug case, three of whom are Laotian and one is Thai, according to DSI Director General Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol.

Suriya claims that the key middleman, between the heroin supplier in the northeastern province of Loei, near the Laotian border, was ‘Uthai’ (no surname given). He delivered the package of drugs to TG cabin crew member ‘Meena’ (no surname given) at her Bang Na condominium on June 22.

Uthai is currently in custody following his arrest by drug squad officers in Phitsanulok province last week.

Suriya also said that the DSI is seeking cooperation from the Laotian police in tracking down the three Laotian nationals for whom arrest warrants are being sought.

Meanwhile, informed sources in the Office of the Narcotics Control Board detailed the ways in which illegal drugs are smuggled from Laos into Thailand, for subsequent forwarding to overseas markets.

The traffickers use couriers to smuggle the drugs from Laos into north-eastern Thailand. They are then carried in vehicles into the central region, packed and sent to couriers, such as cabin crew, to be delivered in person to overseas recipients.

Another method is to send the packages containing drugs from Thai border provinces directly to Bangkok for further carriage overseas by couriers.

Drug squad officers have managed to identify another key suspect in Meena’s case, previously only known by her social media persona ‘Rose Rose’.

According to the police, ‘Rose Rose’ has been identified as ‘Chantra’ (no surname given), a girlfriend of man called ‘Veerawat’ (no surname given) who was earlier sentenced to life in prison on a narcotic trafficking conviction. Veerawat’s brother, ‘Veera’, is also wanted by police on drug charges and has been on the run for about ten years.

Police claim that this narcotics trafficking gang is well organised and has been operating in a compartmentalized way, meaning that those responsible for one assignment do not know the other people in the gang, particularly the gang leader.

Gang members usually communicate via messaging platforms.

Police say that Chantra may have fled the country through Chiang Rai province on July 7.