2 Pakistani men caught in Suvarnabhumi with haul of ketamine, heroin
Two Pakistani nationals were caught at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday trying to smuggle in 30.6 kilograms of ketamine and 1.1kg of heroin. The total street value of the seized drugs came in at 95 million baht.
Customs Department director-general Pachara Anantasilp told the press on Tuesday that the two men were nabbed as they tried to walk through the “nothing to declare” green channel.
They had travelled from Karachi to the United Arab Emirates, before landing in Thailand on an Emirates flight. The drugs had been hidden inside instant tea packages in their luggage.
Pachara said the drugs were not detected in either Karachi or Dubai airports until they arrived in Thailand. He said the other airports may have missed the haul because they focused more on weapons and other dangerous items.
The two suspects are currently being interrogated.
Though the smuggling of drugs via air travel tapered off during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has started picking up again now that Thailand is slowly reopening. The Customs Department has been randomly checking the luggage of arriving and departing passengers.
Since October 2020, 202 suspects have been caught trying to smuggle drugs worth about 8.5 billion baht.
