&ldquo;Officials investigated a suspicious container truck at the port and found 135 buckets of acrylic paint on Monday. Inside each bucket there was a brown plastic package containing heroin weighing around 2.4 kg each,&rdquo; Customs Department director-general Pachara Anantasilp revealed at a press conference on Tuesday.

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&ldquo;The total amount of heroin found was 314.63 kilograms with an estimated value of THB943 million. A shipping document indicated the buckets were to be shipped to Australia,&rdquo; Pachara said.

&ldquo;The department has contacted the Australia Embassy to find the recipient and will investigate the network behind this drug-smuggling operation,&rdquo; he said.

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&ldquo;The department together with the ONCB and related agencies have seized more than 1.8 tonnes of heroin so far this year before they were shipped to foreign destinations,&rdquo; Pachara added.

314kg of heroin hidden in paint buckets seized in Chonburi port just before being shipped to Australia

Officials from the Customs Department and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) seized 314 kilograms of heroin concealed in paint buckets in a shipping container at Laem Chabang Port, Chonburi. The heroin was earmarked to be shipped to Australia.