The Airport Interdiction Task Force (AITF) at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday intercepted crystal methamphetamine hidden in a shipment of pillow cases destined for Australia.
Wichai Chaimongkol, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), announced the confiscation yesterday.
He said officials from the AITF had inspected two consignments of pillow cases weighing 13.94 kilogrammes and found the products were laced with crystal meth.
AITF is a collaboration between the ONCB, anti-narcotics police, the Customs Department and the Armed Forces’ Security Centre to suppress the smuggling of narcotics via airports.
Mr Wichai said the inspection was made based on a “Route Cause Analysis” and irregularities in the shipments, which contained 11 pillow cases but weighed almost 14kg.
He said that in the latest case, Thai authorities had already identified the senders and recipients and were coordinating with Australian Federal Police to track down the recipients and other parties involved. The ONCB will expand the investigation into smuggling via delivery services, he added.
According to the ONCB secretary-general, the AITF is responsible for shipments at airports and its counterpart, the Seaport Interdiction Task Force (SITF), is responsible for consignments at ports.
During the 2022 fiscal year, the AITF and SITF confiscated 20 shipments destined for Australia and arrested two people — a Thai man and a Singapore national.
Confiscated were 344.61kg of crystal meth and 76.8kg of heroin, most of which were hidden in furniture, clothes and instant drinks or food.