BANGKOK, July 12 — An Iranian man was detained at Thailand’s main international airport for allegedly smuggling crystal methamphetamine, known as ‘ice,’ valued at Bt14 million (some US$466,000), a Thai senior customs officer said on Thursday.
Rasoul Boroumand, a 34-year-old Iranian, was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi Airport Wednesday night with packaged crystal meth, weighing some 3,980 grammes, Rakop Srisupa-at, director of the Thai Customs Department Investigation and Suppression Bureau, told a news briefing Thursday.
Flying from the Iranian capital of Tehran to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates before reaching Thailand, the suspect behaved suspiciously while passing through the terminal.
Customs officers asked him to stop for a baggage check and found crystal meth in four plastic bags covered with dark blue carbon paper. The packages of the illegal drug were hidden in a briefcase inside his suitcase.
Mr Boroumand was charged with possessing and smuggling illicit drugs without permission and was transferred to the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for further investigation.
Apart from impounding the crystal meth, customs officers seized 2,777 methamphetamine pills with an estimated street value of Bt1 million ($33,300) found at Suvarnabhumi mail centre, June 13 through July 9.
