South Korean man allegedly tricked into smuggling drugs from Phuket to France
A South Korean man narrowly avoided arrest after being tricked by a foreign man in Phuket into smuggling drugs from Thailand to France. He sought help from the Thai police just in time.
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea contacted officers from Thalang Police Station to investigate the luggage of 65 year old South Korean man, Park Sukhee, at a hotel in the Thalang district at around 11pm on Saturday, January 25.
According to Sukhee, he checked into the hotel on January 24 and was scheduled to travel to France via Qatar Airways on Saturday. As he was preparing to leave the hotel for Phuket International Airport, he noticed that one of his bags was unusually heavy.
Sukhee explained that the luggage had been given to him by a foreign man he had met in Phuket. The foreigner asked him to carry the bag to France, where someone would collect it. Growing suspicious of the bag’s contents, Sukhee sought assistance from the embassy and Thai police.
Upon inspecting the luggage, officers discovered two tightly taped paper bags weighing approximately five kilogrammes. Further investigation revealed that the bags contained heroin. One bag weighed 3.8 kilogrammes, while the other weighed 2.8 kilogrammes.
The drugs were confiscated, and police announced plans to review CCTV footage from the hotel to identify the person responsible for the illegal items.
The connection between the suspect and the South Korean man, along with the reasons why Sukhee agreed to transport the items to France has not been disclosed by police.
In a similar case, a Thai father successfully saved his daughter from a drug arrest in January last year. The woman advertised delivery services from Thailand to Australia on social media. A Laotian man contacted her, requesting that she deliver cushions on his behalf.
When the cushions arrived at the woman’s home in Thailand, her father became suspicious of their unusual weight and firmness. He called the police, who inspected the items and discovered 7.5 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in 15 seat cushions.
If the father had not discovered the concealed drugs, his daughter would have faced severe penalties in Australia due to the significant quantity of illegal substances.
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