Kenyan drug mule arrested in Thailand after swallowing 68 capsules of cocaine
A Kenyan drug smuggler was arrested at an airport in Thailand after swallowing 68 capsules of cocaine, authorities in the country have revealed.
Glenn Chibasellow Ooko, 43, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Wednesday after it was discovered he had 1,200 grams of the drug on him.
Channel News Asia reported that a Nigerian national Joseph Ukpa Osita, 40, is suspected to have allegedly hired him to bring drugs into Southeast Asian countries was later arrested in Bangkok.
Authorities said Mr Ooko, had flown on Monday from Ethiopia to the Thai capital’s Suvarnabhumi airport, where he was detained.
An X-ray showed dozens of quadrilateral shaped items in his stomach, which were filled with cocaine, according to photos provided by the ONCB.
“He swallowed cocaine weighing 1.2 kilograms, which were in 68 packets,” the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said in a statement.
The statement also added that, this was part of a drug network in Thailand.
ONCB in Thailand said airport task force officers disclosed that since October 2018 they have so far arrested 43 people for drug smuggling offences.
According to The National Thailand, seven of these suspects were trying to bring drugs into the country and 38 were trying to smuggle drugs out.
SMUGGLING DRUGS
An officer from ONCB warned Thais not to carry strangers’ items when travelling abroad because it could be a ruse to get them to carry drugs.
He said people are being duped into smuggling drugs into Japan, especially women promised free travel.
Thailand has long been a major drug smuggling hub, with its porous borders and lax law enforcement making it easier for transnational crime networks to transport their goods.
The country also serves as a transit point for a multi-billion methamphetamine trade route, smuggled through Myanmar and Laos before moving on to countries like Australia and Japan.