Elephant tote bag heroin case: Third suspect arrested

A third suspect, allegedly connected to a narcotics trafficking network linked to the TG cabin crew member’s drug case in Australia, was arrested in Ayutthaya province yesterday.

The suspect has been identified only as “Nanthawat”, who allegedly told police investigators that he received a black plastic bag containing six fabric elephant-patterned tote bags from “Uthai”, a Hmong hill tribe man who delivered a package of drugs to the condominium of cabin crew member Meena in the Bang Na area on June 22.

Nanthawat is reported to have told police that he panicked after learning about Meena’s arrest in Australia and contacted Uthai about what to do with the six tote bags in the plastic bag.

After being told to get rid of the bags, Nanthawat claimed that he used a knife to cut them open and flushed all the white powder in them down the toilet in his apartment.

He then left the apartment in his car to dump the plastic bag containing the tote bags in bushes along Highway 4040 in Champa sub-district, Tha Rua district of Ayutthaya.

Based on information obtained from Nanthawat, police retraced the route and found the plastic bag with seven tote bags inside. Residues of white powder found in the bags were sent for testing, which confirmed the substance to be heroin.

Before the arrest of Nanthawat, police had taken into custody Uthai and another man, whose identity was not disclosed by police, who drove the car to take Uthai to Meena’s condominium on June 22.

Two other suspects, “Arthit” and his Laotian wife, “Patsaporn”, were arrested in Loei province. They allegedly sent parcels of elephant tote bags to postal services in Bangkok for forwarding to overseas destinations. Both have denied any connection to Meena’s drug case.

Meena was arrested by Australian Border Force at Melbourne Airport on June 25 after they found heroin concealed in 12 elephant tote bags in her luggage.