How Drug Gangs Use Social Media to Recruit Thai Air Crew as Couriers
Authorities say fake social media accounts are luring Thai air crew with fees as traffickers move heroin and other drugs to Australia and Taiwan.
- On Tuesday, a Thai Airways flight attendant was charged with importing more than one kilogram of heroin into Australia hidden in tote bags. Thai Airways said it maintains strict employee conduct rules and is cooperating with authorities.
- Trafficking networks create fake social media accounts to recruit travelers, including flight attendants, to transport illicit substances across borders. The network used an account named "Powder is Powder" to find couriers, said Areepak Ngernbamroong, a spokesperson for Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board.
- Authorities seized 24.38 kilograms of heroin concealed in traditional goods and coffee sachets, with an estimated street value of A$500,000. Couriers were offered a fee of 8,800 baht, according to Police Major Suriya Singhakamol, Secretary-General of the ONCB.
- Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will convene a meeting of the top national anti-drug committee on Friday, including the chief of the main anti-narcotics agency, senior ministers, and police and military officials.
- War-Torn Myanmar remains the world's main source of illicit opium, with production surging to its highest level in a decade in 2025, amid declining production in Afghanistan as economic hardship pushes farmers into the illicit trade.
12 Articles
12 Articles
How drug gangs use social media to recruit Thai air crew as couriers
Thai police arrest husband and wife in Melbourne heroin case
BANGKOK: Police investigators in Loei have detained a husband and wife as Thai authorities widen their investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network linked to a Thai Airways flight attendant arrested in Australia.
Thai man, Lao wife detained in connection to drug smuggling case
LOEI - Police have detained a Thai man and his Lao wife for questioning in connection with a parcel they allegedly sent to a Thai Airways flight attendant arrested at Melbourne Airport on charges of attempting to smuggle in about one kilogram of heroin concealed in her luggage.
Thai Laotian couple arrested in Loei linked to heroin trafficking and the jailed Thai Airways hostess
Thai police arrest a Thai husband and Laotian wife over the heroin case linked to Thai Airways hostess Ms Meena as the Office of the… Read More › The post Thai Laotian couple arrested in Loei linked to heroin trafficking and the jailed Thai Airways hostess appeared first on Thai Examiner.
The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) urgently flew to Melbourne to apprehend a married couple involved in a heroin smuggling case, for questioning regarding their drug trafficking route. On July 3, Pol. Col. Suriya Singhakamol, Secretary-General of the ONCB, revealed the results of a joint operation by the ONCB, in cooperation with the Loei Provincial Police, Provincial Police Region 4, and police stations in Loei Province, to expedi…
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