Singaporean drug smuggler arrested in Samut Prakan

A Singaporean drug smuggler arrested this week in Samut Prakan faces deportation back to his home country, where he is likely to receive the death penalty.

Benny Kee Soon Chuan orchestrated a smuggling operation involving crystal meth, ketamine, and ecstasy, shipping these substances from Thailand to Australia and Singapore, according to Police Lieutenant General Panurat Lakboonto, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

Investigations revealed that Kee had been involved in two prior smuggling cases in 2021, with narcotics being shipped to both Singapore and Australia.

Local police discovered that Kee had fled Singapore and lived a lavish lifestyle in the Bang Kaew area of Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan.

“His Thai visa was cancelled, and he was apprehended on Tuesday with the assistance of officers from Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau.”

During the arrest, officers confiscated assets worth 15 million baht and found that Kee had entered Thailand using a Vanuatu passport.

The ONCB is coordinating efforts to deport Kee. Under Singaporean law, drug trafficking offences can result in capital punishment, reported Bangkok Post.

In related news, two Thai nationals face execution for drug trafficking charges in Indonesia. Rachanon Jongseeha and his girlfriend Woranawan Wongsuwan were among six people arrested in Bali last week on drug charges by Indonesian police.

Four could face execution under the country’s strict drug laws. The couple was arrested upon arrival at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport on September 8, with 1.9 kilogrammes of methamphetamines mixed with ecstasy powder packed in 108 sachets of a fruit-flavoured collagen drink, and 20 pills of the party drug ecstasy.

In other news, six suspected drug smugglers were killed in a gunfight with an army patrol near Thailand’s northern border in the Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai. The incident, which took place on September 6 night, also led to the seizure of approximately 1.3 million speed pills.