Guard finds suitcase with ‘ice’ worth Bt30 million

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: A security guard at a factory in Ayutthaya found a suitcase with “ice” (crystal methamphetamine) worth Bt30 million hidden in a thick bush near a road, police said yesterday.

Bunhom Wongchanla, 48, called police after he found the “suspicious” suitcase left in a bush about 10 metres from a street.

Bunhom said he intended to catch some fish at a nearby area, which has a irrigation canal, to make a meal as usual. He stumbled upon the suitcase and tried to open but could not. He then rang the rescue operation centre.

Police found 11 bags of ‘ice’, weighing one kilogram each in the case. Another bag of ‘ice’ was found outside the suitcase.

Police took all the bags to try to trace fingerprints to identify drug rings involved.

Police suspect that the drug was smuggled from the North or Northeast for sale in Bangkok but the smugglers knew that they were followed and hid the drug to retrieve later.

— Phuket Gazette Editors