Vietnamese couple busted with heroin
PATONG: Kathu Police arrested a Vietnamese couple on March 25 for possession of heroin with intent to sell, seizing about 40 grams of the drug.
Acting on information provided by an informant, a team of Kathu Police led by Investigations Inspector Lt Col Serm Kwannimit at 3 pm approached a single-room flat on the second floor of an apartment block on Ratpatanusorn Rd, just opposite the Patong Municipality offices.
As they neared, a shoe came flying out the flat’s front door. Police recovered the shoe, which contained an undisclosed amount of heroin.
Inside the room police found Vietnamese national Tran Van Tien, 38, and his 26-year-old roommate Don Tee Hieng, described by police as his wife.
Police searched the room and found 33 small paper sachets of powdered heroin with a total weight of 11.54 grams, plus several more solid chunks of the drug with a total weight of 30.10 grams. They also collected three syringes as evidence, Col Serm said.
Knowing the police were approaching, the couple threw the heroin out in the shoe in a desperate attempt to hide the evidence, he added.
“After we questioned the suspects, we learned that they regularly visit Thailand as guest workers,” he said, adding that both held all the necessary documents to work in Thailand.
Don Tee Hieng, who was once arrested for selling pirated copies of brand name clothes, was working selling wigs and clothing at the time of her arrest.
Tran Van Tien told police that when they last entered the country, on March 23, he smuggled in three bars of heroin that he bought in Vietnam at a total cost of 7,000 baht. The weight of each bar was not disclosed.
Police failed to believe Tran Van Tien’s claim that the heroin was only for personal use because of the amount of the drug seized and the fact that much of it had already been packed into small paper sachets typically used for retail sale to users.
Although Don Tee Hieng told police she had no knowledge of the drugs in the couples’ shared room, both were arrested and charged with possession of a Category 1 narcotic with intent to sell.
They are now being held at Phuket Provincial Prison.
