Thai woman arrested for smuggling drugs into South Korea

The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) arrested a Thai woman yesterday at a coffee shop in Bangkok for smuggling drugs from Thailand to South Korea.

The 26 year old woman, named Kanokwan, was wanted by the police for her involvement in a recent ketamine smuggling operation. The case came to light when the ONCB joined forces with the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) and National Police Agency (KNPA) to seize ketamine powder hidden in containers labelled as powder bottles.

The powder bottles were packed and prepared for delivery to South Korea but the police intervened in time. An investigation was then conducted to identify the suspects involved. Two Thai nationals were found to be involved in the drug smuggling operation, one of whom was Kanokwan.

Police searched for Kanokwan and discovered that she had travelled from Thailand to South Korea, where she was finally arrested in May. She was imprisoned there for three months and recently returned to Thailand.

Police searched her rented room in the Thawee Wattana district of Bangkok but did not find any drugs or illegal items on the premises.

Kanokwan now faces further legal punishment in Thailand under three charges, including:

• Section 123 of the Narcotics Act: Conspiring with two or more persons to commit a serious crime related to narcotics. The penalty is imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to 500,000 baht.
• Paragraph 1 of Section 52 and Section 123 of the Narcotics Act: Producing, importing, or exporting drugs under Category 2. The penalty is imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 1 million baht.
• Paragraph 2 of Section 52 and Section 123 of the Narcotics Act: Selling drugs under Category 2. The penalty is imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to 700,000 baht.

In a related report, a South Korean vice leader of the drug trafficking gang, 40 year old Jin, was arrested in Chon Buri at the beginning of this month after four drug suspects who were previously arrested confessed that Jin was their leader.

Jin insisted that he was only a deputy leader. He allegedly stocked the drugs in Thailand and smuggled them into South Korea by using women as couriers.