Nigerian drug lord’s Thai wives and foreign accomplices nabbed in Bangkok smuggling sting
Police swooped to arrest a Nigerian drug lord’s three Thai wives and five foreigners in a drug smuggling operation at a house in Bangkok’s Nimit Mai district.
Kirisak Tantinawachai, acting commissioner of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), said officers had uncovered a drug trafficking network in Thailand controlled by a Nigerian man called Joseph, also known as Mickey, who lives in Nigeria.
The man transferred cocaine and heroin to his gang in Thailand for distribution both within the kingdom and abroad, including Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.
The gang also laundered money in Thailand by using the cash to buy children’s clothes, shoes, dried fish, etc., and shipped them to Nigeria through a company owned by Nigerian nationals.
The NSB officers carried out the anti-narcotics operation called Mouse Hunt today, October 27, to arrest the gang members in Thailand. They raided 17 suspicious locations and arrested eight suspects at a house in the Nimit Mai area.
Three wives of Joseph were arrested, Thatsanee, Rattanaporn and Kanokkorn, along with four Nigerian men and one Ivorian man. Officers seized 350 grammes of heroin, 49 grammes of cocaine and 6 grammes of crystal methamphetamine.
Superintendent Kirisak said officers were now conducting further investigations into the gang and questioning the arrested suspects to arrest the entire gang.
Kirisak explained that the Nigerian drug smugglers focused on Thai women who were in financial difficulties. They would date the women and gradually coerce them into the drug smuggling network and use them as nominees.
Kirisak urged Thais to report to the police if they notice a group of Nigerian nationals avoiding contact with locals and acting suspiciously. The commissioner also warned Thai women not to join the gang as the ultimate punishment for conspiring in a drug smuggling network is the death penalty.
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