A total of 375kg of cannabis, worth approximately USD 2.2. million, was seized in Thailand and 13 foreigners were arrested for smuggling. Some of the cannabis was meant to be smuggled into Singapore, as the island nation was one of the destinations of the accused.
The seizure and arrest operations took place at Samui airport, according to a CNA report. All the 13 accused were “posing as tourists”, said the Singapore-based publication. All the arrests did not happen in one single day; it took the Thailand authorities four days to catch everyone.
CNA said: “Of the 13 arrested, 12 were bound for Singapore and the other was bound for Hong Kong, the Bangkok Post reported. Their planned final destinations included the United Kingdom, Germany, and Singapore.”
Some of the foreigners were drug mules — people hired to carry narcotics, while pretending to be regular travellers — and their reward was going to be payment or debt repayment, according to information released by the Thai authorities.
Based on the Bangkok Post report, CNA said that the contraband cannabis was “seized from 22 bags at Samui airport”, and that its total street value was 75 million baht (USD 2.2 million) in total.
The most recent arrests were carried out on Saturday, when four British men were caught with 131kg of dried cannabis buds, packed in eight suitcases. They tried to flee Samui airport when their bags were scanned and the cannabis was found, but they were caught soon enough and charged with smuggling cannabis and violating the cannabis control law of Thailand.
Immigration police in Thailand said that these British men were on a paid trip — they had flown from Bangkok to Koh Samui (in Surat Thani), after which they were to carry the contraband cannabis from Koh Samui to Singapore, and then onwards to other destinations.
The payment they had been promised as drug mules was GBP 2,000 (USD 2,500) per person or debt repayment for some of them.
Besides these four caught over the weekend, nine other foreigners were arrested earlier for smuggling cannabis through Samui airport; they have been sentenced to four months’ jail.
