Police expand Japan-bound drug probe with four Bangkok searches
Six Vietnamese nationals were arrested in raids in Bueng Kum and Bang Kapi as police expanded a probe into crystal meth hidden in tamarind paste bound for Japan.
- Bangkok police raided four locations in Bueng Kum and Bang Kapi as part of an investigation into an alleged Vietnamese drug-trafficking network.
- The operation resulted in the arrest of six Vietnamese suspects on various drug-related charges.
- The network is accused of smuggling crystal meth to Japan by concealing it within jars of tamarind paste carried by paid couriers.
- Authorities are also seeking an arrest warrant for a key female suspect believed to be directing the ring's financial operations through a mule-account network.
Metropolitan Police Bureau investigators launched coordinated searches at four target locations in Bueng Kum and Bang Kapi on Tuesday (July 21, 2026), arresting six Vietnamese suspects as they expanded an investigation into an alleged transnational Vietnamese drug-trafficking network.
The case involved crystal meth concealed in jars of tamarind paste for paid couriers to carry to Japan.
Police were also seeking court approval for an arrest warrant for Mali, the girlfriend suspected of being a key figure directing the mule-account network.
Pol Lt Gen Siam Boonsom, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, ordered Pol Maj Gen Teeradet Thammasuthee, deputy commissioner responsible for narcotics, to lead a joint operation involving the MPB, Metropolitan Police Division 7 and Bang Yi Khan Police Station.
Acting under search warrants, officers searched four locations in Bueng Kum and Bang Kapi and arrested six more Vietnamese suspects.
The searches stemmed from a case in which a paid courier carrying parcels abroad noticed something unusual in jars of tamarind paste, leading to the discovery and seizure of more than 2 kilograms of pure crystal meth.
Somphong, a suspect accused of opening a mule account for his Vietnamese girlfriend, was arrested last week.
Details of the four searches were as follows.
Sites 1 to 3 were residences in Khlong Kum, Bueng Kum district, and Khlong Chan, Bang Kapi district, where no illegal items were found.
At site 4, a residence in Khlong Chan, Bang Kapi district, officers found a group of Vietnamese nationals.
The property was where a delivery rider had collected the parcel.
Six suspects were arrested.
HA THI, 28, TRAN THI, 18, LE NGUYEN, 18, LO THI, 19, and LUONG LE, 18, were charged with “using a Category 1 narcotic without authorisation”.
DO NHU, 28, was charged with “possessing a Category 1 narcotic without authorisation”.
Officers also seized all communications devices and electronic equipment for the extraction of digital evidence.
They also seized a copy of the passport of Mali, a Vietnamese national and Somphong’s girlfriend, to support a further application to the court for an arrest warrant.
The detainees said they had come to Thailand for work and that DO NHU NGOC acted as a modelling agent arranging entertainment work.
They said they were paid THB700 per assignment and lived together at the same address.
They denied any involvement in the transnational drug-trafficking operation but admitted using drugs.
Pol Maj Gen Teeradet Thammasuthee, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said: “This network tried to deceive officials by using services in which travellers carry goods for others and concealing drugs among agricultural products and dried food. I urge people paid to carry parcels abroad to inspect every item carefully. If anything appears unusual or its weight seems inconsistent, do not accept it under any circumstances. I also warn anyone who agrees to open a mule account or gives personal documents to others that they will be regarded as taking part in a transnational criminal organisation. The Metropolitan Police Bureau will crack down on such networks and take decisive legal action against everyone involved.”
