November 15, 2003 - 7:30PM
Police in Thailand and Australia have arrested six people allegedly involved in a
drugs trafficking ring.
Thai police arrested a 27-year-old Australian man and
two Thai women in a raid on a central Bangkok hotel, close to midnight on November 4,
Australian Federal Police said.
As officers broke into the man's room,
he was allegedly preparing to swallow more than 200 condoms packed with 760
grams of heroin before departing on a flight for Sydney.
All three were
charged under Thai drug law.
The man was identified as Peter Thomas Allan from Eastwood in Sydney, Bangkok sources said.
The AFP said further inquiries led to the arrest of a second Australian man on November 11 also in Bangkok.
No further details of that arrest were immediately available.
Investigations in Australia had also led to searches of five locations in Sydney and Perth.
Two men in Sydney had been arrested and would face court on January 22 on drug trafficking charges.
Thai police were reported as saying three more Australians suspected of links to the smuggling ring had also been under surveillance.
But they had fled the country before police were able to arrest them.
Australia and Thailand have long maintained cooperation in drug trafficking and enforcement.
Northern Thailand is at the centre of the Golden Triangle region of Thailand, Burma and Laos, with more than 75 per cent of the illegal heroin in Australia sourced from the region.
Burma, while moving to reduce opium poppy production which is the raw material for heroin, remains the world's second largest source of heroin after the Golden Crescent region in Afghanistan.
Under Thai law those arrested for drug trafficking can face up to life in prison, usually commuted to 25 to 50 years.
Under recent amendments to the law, a court is able to impose a jail sentence and a fine.
Currently there are up to a dozen Australians in
Thai jails, mostly serving sentences for drug trafficking.
- AAP
Published on Jan 12, 2004 The Nation
Four members of drug kingpin Laota Saenli's network were arrested in Mae Hong Sing with heroin worth Bt22 million on Saturday night, police said yesterday.
They were arrested while giving 200 bars of heroin stamped with the "999" brand to undercover officers acting as drug traders in the province's Pai district, said Lt-General Phriaophan Damaphong, the commissioner of the Narcotic Suppression Police.
The four were taken to Chiang Mai under heavy security for further questioning, he said.
During the lengthy sting operation, undercover police attempted to buy heroin many times but were turned down until Saturday night, when they offered to buy Bt22-million worth of the drug.
The arrests are expected to lead to the arrests of other members of Laota's gang, Phriaophan said.
Laota was arrested last June in a pre-dawn raid by police commandos at his house in Chiang Mai.
He, along with his two sons, has been charged with colluding to possess narcotics for sale and other offences.
Laota is said to be a member of the United Wa State Army, an armed group in Burma notorious for being a major drug producer.
Laota is also believed to be a key aide to Wei Hsueh-kang, a major drug baron in the region. The US government offers a US$2-million (Bt83-million) bounty for Wei's arrest.
