Police arrest Israeli man carrying bullets at Phuket Airport, southern Thailand

An Israeli tourist was arrested upon arrival at Phuket Airport, southern Thailand, yesterday after security found 55 bullets in his luggage.

The 29 year old tourist of Israeli nationality, Gan Chamoun Farjun, arrived in Phuket on a domestic flight at 12.30pm.

When Farjun’s grey Samsonite suitcase went through the scanner at airport security, officials noticed what looked like bullet-like objects in his luggage.

Security searched the suitcase and found 55 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition.

Police arrested the tourist in the airport’s domestic terminal under suspicion of “illegal possession of and illegally carrying ammunition.”

He was taken to Sakhu Police Station in Thalang district for further questioning. He allegedly admitted that the bullets were his but did not comment on his reason for carrying them into Phuket.

Police did not say where Farjun had travelled from, only that he arrived on a domestic flight.

Wherever he came from, it is concerning the bullets were not flagged up by security from the airport he departed from.

Thai police continue their crackdown on illegal firearms following orders of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The police confiscated 263 guns and 1,702 rounds of ammunition in eight provinces of southern Thailand in just 15 days this month.

As well as firearms, the police have been ordered to crackdown on drug crimes, especially crimes related to methamphetamine.

Thailand ranks 15th among countries with the highest numbers of gun-related deaths worldwide and 2nd in Southeast Asia, after the Philippines, according to the World Population Review.

Thailand has the highest gun possession in Southeast Asia because guns are easy to purchase legally or illegally. Among 10,342,000 guns recorded in Thailand in 2017, 6,221,180 were legally registered and the rest were illegal.