Princess presides over UN meet on alternative development

A total of 250 delegates including executives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, international experts, NGOs representatives, Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya and Thai officials from related agencies attended the conference at Bangkok’s Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who was also at the event’s opening, said drug offences – which resulted in various other crimes – must be solved at the root. He said the root of the problem was poverty and social inequality, while authorities and allies should also boost people’s immunity against drug trafficking by developing and improving their quality of life.
He affirmed that Thailand was ready to be a good neighbour and a strategic partner in the region, in a bid to meet targets to free the world of poverty and inequality in the next 15 years and ensure no one is left behind.
In related news, two Thai women were arrested for their alleged role in the smuggling of cocaine worth Bt10.4 million into Thailand, Customs Department’s Investigation and Suppression Bureau (ISB) and Police’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau announced in a press conference yesterday.
ISB director Vichak Apirugnunchai said that one suspect, Siriwan Yodtheerak, 32, was arrested on Sunday morning at Krabi International Airport after officials found 2.6 kilograms of cocaine in her luggage, which was delivered after her flight from Manila on Saturday.
Siriwan then implicated Aew Wijit, 34, whose African boyfriend had allegedly hired Siriwan at Bt60,000 to pick up the luggage and deliver it to Krabi City. Aew was later arrested at Hometel Hotel in Krabi. Siriwan, meanwhile, claimed that she agreed to smuggle drugs for the first time due to financial problems.