Taiwanese and Thai nationals charged for heroin smuggling

Taiwanese aviation police have cracked down on an international drug cartel smuggling heroin which involved one Taiwanese and four Thai nationals.

The cunning scheme involved smuggling a whopping 36.644 kilogrammes of heroin into Taiwan, with an eye-watering value of over US$3.1 million (approximately 113 million baht), as disclosed in a press release by the Aviation Police Bureau (APB) yesterday.

According to the APB, the four Thai nationals, belonging to the ethnic Mon community, slipped into Taiwan disguised as tourists last December. They were allegedly led by a Mon chief named Sae, who enticed his fellow tribal members into the illicit operation by promising them a hefty sum of 800,000 Thai baht each.

Under Sae’s directives, the suspects ingeniously concealed 9 kilogrammes of drugs within ethnic-style fabric art stowed away in their checked luggage. However, the cunning plan hit a snag when two of the culprits were intercepted by vigilant customs officers upon arrival, as revealed by the APB.

Although Sae and an accomplice managed to breeze through customs undetected, their luck ran out when they reached a hotel in Taoyuan. Swift police action led to their arrest, turning them into unwitting bait to trap their Taiwanese courier, identified as Huang, reported Focus Taiwan.

The APB further disclosed that the Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office has recently indicted all five suspects under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, marking a significant victory in the relentless fight against drug trafficking.

In related news, in a major drug bust, authorities in Bueng Kan Province apprehended three individuals, including a prominent subdistrict headman from Sakon Nakhon, for smuggling nearly 10 kilogrammes of heroin. The arrest took place last Thursday afternoon at a border patrol police company in Bueng Kan, following a covert operation led by the local law enforcement and border patrol units.

In other news, Airport Interdiction Task Force officers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok arrested a Chinese man who attempted to smuggle 3,000 grammes of heroin into Australia. The drugs were concealed in books and powder bottles.