A Thai woman has been arrested at Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan after allegedly swallowing 72 heroin capsules in an attempt to smuggle the drug into the country, according to Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration.
The Kaohsiung Criminal Investigation Team had received a tip-off that foreign nationals were attempting to smuggle drugs into Taiwan by concealing them in luggage or inside their bodies. Acting on the information, officers intercepted and arrested the woman on April 6, accusing her of trafficking heroin, a category 1 controlled substance under Taiwanese law.
Investigators said the accused had swallowed 72 oval-shaped heroin capsules with a combined weight of 289.1 grammes and an estimated value of NT$3.6 million (approx. 3.72 million baht).
Each capsule was wrapped in plastic and tightly sealed. Officers noted that if the outer wrapping had degraded in stomach acid, the leaked contents could have proven fatal, describing it as an extremely high-risk method of smuggling.
The woman was taken to hospital, where she was given medication to help pass the capsules naturally. The process took 10 days before all the capsules had cleared her system. Radio Taiwan noted that she also works as a Muay Thai instructor, which required round-the-clock monitoring throughout her treatment.
She has been referred for prosecution under Taiwan’s narcotics prevention law. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office is preparing to file the case in court, and a court has ordered her detained pending further proceedings.
More recently, around 11 French nationals, who were arrested in Thailand with cannabis in their luggage, claimed they were deceived into carrying “locked bags” in exchange for free holidays.
According to the victims’ families, criminal gangs offered travellers free holidays in Thailand in exchange for bringing luggage back to France. The travellers were allegedly told that the bags contained mobile phones, but the luggage instead contained large quantities of cannabis.
The story Thai woman held in Taiwan over swallowing 72 heroin capsules as seen on Thaiger News.
