Thai and Australian authorities say they have identified key figures in a suspected drug-smuggling network, following the arrest of a 26-year-old Thai Airways flight attendant caught with heroin at Melbourne Airport. Officials expect to make arrests in Thailand within days.
The flight attendant was working on Thai Airways flight TG465 from Bangkok to Melbourne when she arrived in Australia on 25 June. As she passed through customs, Australian Border Force officers screened her luggage, and an X-ray flagged anomalies across 12 Thai-themed tote bags she was carrying. A sniffer dog also detected a substance. On inspection, officers found white powder concealed in the lining of the bags. Testing indicated it was heroin, with a combined weight of more than one kilogram and an estimated Australian street value of around 500,000 Australian dollars.
She has been charged with one count of importing and one count of possessing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. She is being held without bail and is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 14 September.
The joint investigation
On 1 July, Office of the Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Suriya Singhakamol gave an update after a two-hour meeting with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF). The case is being handled under a long-running joint operation called Task Force Storm, which brings together the AFP, Thai Customs, the ONCB and the Department of Special Investigation to share intelligence.
Suriya said the two countries now have leads on the group waiting to receive the parcel at the Australian end, along with key figures linked to the case, described as the receiver, the sender and the person handling the money transfers, as well as the wider network moving drugs from production sources through Thailand to Australia. He declined to reveal names or nationalities to protect the operation.
In Thailand, the Royal Thai Police, through the Metropolitan Police Bureau and the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, are said to already have information on the network, and Suriya said arrests of people involved in Thailand were expected within one to two days.
Was she a victim?
A central unanswered question is whether the flight attendant knowingly carried the drugs or was used by the network. Thai officials have stressed that no conclusion has been reached. The ONCB noted she had reportedly been hired for just 8,800 baht to carry the 12 tote bags from Thailand to Melbourne, and that her family said she did not lead a lavish lifestyle. Her employer allegedly contacted her through a Facebook account named “Rose Rose,” which advertised merchandise-carrying services and was deleted shortly after her arrest.
Suriya said everything must follow Australia’s justice process, and confirmed that Australian authorities have provided the flight attendant with a lawyer to assist with legal matters. When she was questioned at the airport, officials said, she told customs officers she had brought 12 bags and consented to their inspection before the heroin was found.
Investigators are also still trying to trace the delivery driver who brought the parcel of tote bags to her condominium in Bangkok’s Bang Na district on 22 June. One delivery rider who reported to police turned out not to be the person involved.
The government is treating the case as a high priority. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has placed the case and the wider issue of drug smuggling to Australia on the agenda of the ONCB board meeting on Friday 3 July, which he will chair in person, with a view to tightening measures including more rigorous baggage searches and X-ray screening.
An ABF representative said Australia and Thailand have a long-standing law enforcement relationship, and thanked the ONCB for meeting to discuss the threats and risks facing the region.
The flight attendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty by the court.
The story Thai and Australian police close in on network behind flight attendant’s heroin arrest as seen on Thaiger News.
