Thailand seizes heroin worth US$29 million bound for Australia
- The 134 shrink-wrapped packets of heroin had been concealed in a shipment of acrylic paint headed for Australia, said Thailand’s customs head
- The arrest of a suspect led to the identification of the person who hired him, who fled to Laos, said the head of Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board
Customs officials in Thailand made their biggest seizure of heroin this year, about 315kg (694lb) worth up to 944 million baht (US$29 million), bringing the total confiscated so far this year to two tons, officials said on Tuesday.
They did not say where the drugs originated, but the seizure comes amid concerns that production may surge in neighbouring Myanmar, the region’s main supplier of illicit drugs, because of severe instability following the military’s ousting of an elected government in February.
Customs Department Director-General Patchara Anuntasilpa said 134 shrink-wrapped packets of heroin, each weighing about 2.4kg (5.3lb), had been concealed in a shipment of acrylic paint headed for Australia.
He said the drugs were discovered on Monday because the packets of heroin were placed in square plastic containers which stood out on X-rays of the paint buckets.
The arrest of a suspect led to the identification of the person who hired him, who fled to Laos, said Wichai Chaimongkol, secretary general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.
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The Golden Triangle area, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, was a major production area for opium and hosted many of the labs that converted it to heroin.