Parcel peril: Hong Kong duo busted in Bangkok for smuggling heroin to Australia

Officers from Bang Sue Police Station arrested two Hong Kong men in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district yesterday as they attempted to smuggle heroin to Australia through parcel delivery services.

A staff member at a delivery shop in Chatuchak Weekend Market urged police officers to visit the shop after two foreigners delivered 18 suspicious parcels to Australia. The staff slowed the service until officers arrived at the shop.

Police examined the suspicious packages and found heroin hidden inside. According to the police report, the suspects pretended to be delivering shirts to Australian customers.

They packed the drugs at the bottom of the boxes before covering them with black plastic sheeting and placing the shirts on top. The total amount of heroin discovered in these packages amounted to a staggering 1 kilogramme.

Officers accompanied the two foreign suspects to their condominium on Phetchaburi-Makkasan Road in Bangkok. The officers found 4 kilogrammes of crystal meth concealed within packages of oolong tea, intended for distribution.

Further investigation would be conducted to determine whether the two Hong Kong men were retail dealers or members of the transient drug gangs.

In related news, two Hong Kong men were arrested last month at a condominium in Bangkok’s Rama 9 district for smuggling heroin. Over 11 kilogrammes of heroin were seized at their place. They were arrested while buying equipment and materials to make golden lion plaster dolls they used to hide the drugs.

The two had smuggled heroin into Hong Kong on more than 20 occasions before their arrest. The cases were reportedly linked to another drug bust in which the suspects employed a similar method of drug hiding within the same dolls.

In April, Hong Kong officials discovered about 53 kilogrammes of heroin hidden in packets of coffee powder from Thailand. Hong Kong officials then asked the Thai authorities for help in finding the drug dealers. Thai officials then successfully identified the dealers and arrested one Thai and two Laotians responsible for the drug smuggling.

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