Woman stopped at Don Mueang Airport with 7kg of cocaine

Department chief Rakop Srisupaat said that, following intelligence that a suspect would smuggle drugs into Thailand via the airport, the officials apprehended Thitiruk Tingtin on Sunday night, after she was seen acting suspiciously. They found the cocaine hidden in her luggage. She reportedly confessed that she was hired for Bt20,000 per trip to transport cocaine from the Philippines. She was charged with possessing illicit drugs with intention to sell and with smuggling the drug into the Kingdom.

Rakop said this was the biggest such bust in the past two years. An initial investigation found that the smuggling was ordered by a gang led by a Nigerian national. Such gang members would come into the country as tourists, seduce Thai women by claiming that they were rich businessmen, and then ask their Thai girlfriends to help them transport goods or jewellery containing illicit drugs, without the women’s knowledge, he said. This led to many Thai women being arrested and criminally charged, he said, adding that the countries in which Thai women were commonly arrested for possession of illicit drugs were Brazil, Taiwan and Bahrain.