Thai woman caught smuggling 6 million baht of cocaine into Japan
A Thai woman was arrested at Kansai International Airport in Osaka after she smuggled 6 million baht worth of cocaine into Japan.
Local news agencies in Japan recently reported that the 23 year old Thai woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, was arrested at Kansai Airport after 760 grammes of cocaine were found in her possession. The drugs were worth approximately 27 million yen, or around 8 million baht.
The suspect concealed the drugs in her backpack but could not evade the attention of officials. Japanese security officials became suspicious after noticing that she brought very few belongings with her, carrying only one backpack.
Officials examined her bag and found unusual stitching with yellow thread in a suspicious location. Channel 3 reported that the officials later discovered the cocaine hidden in a secret pocket crafted with the yellow thread.
The woman is said to travelled from Malaysia, transiting through China before arriving in Japan. Japanese police have not yet disclosed further details about the case, nor have they confirmed whether the woman admitted to her crime.
The police stated that further investigations are underway to identify other suspects involved.
In a related incident reported in July, a Thai woman named Phatcharin was arrested in Thailand for smuggling drugs into Japan via the same Kansai Airport. Japanese officials found Phatcharin and two other suspects hiding methamphetamine in their backpacks, but they were caught.
The three were deported to Thailand after serving their sentences in Japan. However, they are also set to face punishment in Thailand, prompting police to search for and arrest Phatcharin. No further details were provided about the other two suspects.
WorkPoint Today reported that Japan imposes severe penalties for drug-related offences. Anyone caught smuggling drugs into the country faces a prison sentence of at least 10 years and a fine of at least 3 million yen, or approximately 660,000 baht.
While drug smuggling into Japan is not commonly reported in Thai news, there were several cases of drug smuggling to South Korea. Recently, a Thai woman was sought by police after tricking an innocent man into delivering drugs to South Korea on her behalf.
Another Thai woman was arrested in Thailand for smuggling drugs into South Korea. She was initially caught in South Korea and imprisoned for three months before being deported and arrested again in Thailand.
