Tourist from Hong Kong caught with 14kg of cocaine at Bangkok airport

Four tourists from Hong Kong were arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs concealed in snack boxes through an airport in Thailand.

The suspects, believed to be sourcing drugs from the north of the country, reportedly entered the country on August 11, and stayed separately in different hotels in the Huai Khwang and Ramkhamhaeng areas of Bangkok.

Police Lieutenant General Panurat Lakboonto, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said the ONCB coordinated with relevant organisations to closely monitor the tourists' movements.

He said: 'On the night of August 14, we learned that one of the suspects had picked up a suspicious bag from a sedan on the side of a hotel in Huai Khwang. We believe it contains drugs.'

The four tourists then travelled to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok and entered a bathroom together, where they were arrested by police officers on August 15.

They were taken to a scanning area and were found to be carrying 40 bars of heroin hidden in snack boxes in their luggage.

The ONCB said the Airport and Seaport Interdiction Task Forces were intercepting suspicious shipments as Thailand was being used as a transit point by transnational crime networks.

Police Lieutenant General Panurat said: ‘Previously, another Hong Kong crime network attempted to transport heroin from Thailand to Hong Kong several times.'

‘On June 23, we managed to arrest four other Hong Kong suspects and seized 31 pounds (14 kilogrammes) of heroin in their baggage as they were preparing to transport it to Hong Kong from Suvarnabhumi International Airport.'

According to Thai law, carrying Category I drugs, including LSD and ecstasy, for 'disposal or possession for the purpose of disposal', has a maximum punishment of the death sentence or life in prison. The most severe punishments are reserved for those who 'produce of import' the substances, while simply possessing the drugs can land offenders in jail for up to 10 years.

Dealing the lesser Category 2 drugs, which include cocaine and ketamine, can carry a life sentence while possession alone has a punishment of five years.