Indian man arrested at Bangkok airport for smuggling cocaine

Airport Interdiction Task Force (AITF) officers at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok arrested an Indian man on Sunday for smuggling cocaine worth 17 million baht into Thailand.

Finance Minister Junlaphan Amornvivat held a press conference at the Customs Office in Don Mueang Airport on June 16 to reveal details of the 39 year old Indian man’s arrest.

Junlaphan explained that AITF officers observed suspicious behaviour from an Indian man who arrived at Don Mueang Airport around 4.40pm on June 16 from Luang Prabang International Airport in Laos. The officers closely monitored the Indian visitor and meticulously X-rayed his luggage and two backpacks.

The X-ray results and the weight of the bags raised suspicion, prompting officers to conduct a search inside them. Four brown paper bags containing white powder were found in a secret pocket within the backpacks and female handbags.

Officers tested the powder with a specific chemical and confirmed it to be cocaine. The drug weighed about 5,755 grammes and was worth approximately 17 million baht.

The Indian drug trafficker was charged under Section 146 of the Narcotics Control Act: importing and possessing a Category 2 drug. The penalty carries a potential sentence of one to ten years in prison and a fine of 100,000 to 1 million baht.

He also faced charges under Sections 242 and 252 of the Customs Act for importing untaxed and illegal products into the kingdom.

In a related story, a British man was arrested at Phuket International Airport in May after Thai officers found cocaine hidden in his passport. The drug was for personal use, not sale, as it weighed only 0.42 grammes.

Another major cocaine bust was reported in January when a Thai man discovered 7.5 kilogrammes of cocaine, worth about 20 million baht, hidden in cushions belonging to his daughter’s Laotian customer.

His daughter offered a delivery service from Thailand to Australia and advertised her services online. This Laotian customer used her delivery service to lure the woman into smuggling the cocaine into Australia.