Three foreign nationals, including two Pakistanis and one Indian, were arrested after police allegedly discovered more than 101,000 ecstasy pills hidden inside luggage at a petrol station in Sa Kaeo province, amid concerns the drugs were destined for Bangkok.
Immigration police said the case began yesterday, June 27, when an an immigration officer who was out of uniform stopped at a petrol station and noticed three foreign men sitting on the ground with several suitcases.
Believing they might be tourists in need of assistance, the officer approached them.
One of the men, 24 year old Badti Muhammad Aslan, a Pakistani national, allegedly asked the officer for a lift to Bangkok. After identifying himself as an immigration officer, he requested to inspect the man’s passport and found it did not contain an entry stamp for Thailand. The man was detained, while the other two men fled during the inspection.
Immigration police later worked with Mueang Sa Kaeo Police Station and the Sa Kaeo Provincial Police Investigation Division to locate the two men. They were identified as 19 year old Ali Liswan, a Pakistani national, and 45 year old Pakaran Jit Singh, an Indian national. Both were also found to have entered Thailand illegally.
Officers searched a total of five suitcases and allegedly found 101,675 ecstasy pills concealed inside cloth and plastic bags.
Police said urine tests carried out on the three suspects found no illegal drugs in their systems.
The three men were charged with jointly selling a Category 1 narcotic (ecstasy) without permission for commercial purposes, and with illegally entering and remaining in Thailand without permission.
During questioning, the three suspects admitted the immigration offence but denied the drug-related charges. Police handed them over to investigators at Mueang Sa Kaeo Police Station for legal proceedings.
Jocho reported that police are continuing a deeper investigation to expand the case.
In a separate case, a Pakistani man was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport after he attempted to smuggle almost 80,000 pills from Pakistan into the Kingdom of Thailand.
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