PHUKET, May 11 – Thai police arrested a Swiss national and a Thai woman for attempting to carry six kilogrammes of cocaine into the country at Phuket International Airport.
Pol Maj Gen Phikat Tantipong, commander of Phuket provincial police, told a news conference Wednesday that police detained Peter Balmer, 47, a Swiss national with four kilos of cocaine and Mrs Pimpisa, 39, with two kilos of powdered cocaine at Phuket International Airport.
Mr Balmer has lived in Thailand for several years, is married to a Thai woman, and he was hired to pick up the drugs overseas to bring them to Phuket Airport, according to the police.
Both suspects were detained at Thachatchai police station for possession of a total of six kilos of cocaine worth more than Bt30 million (US$1 million). The arrest came after a tip-off about drug trafficking into the country at Phuket International Airport. The street value is Bt5 million (US$166,000) per kilo.
Mrs Pimpisa said that a foreign friend named only ‘Mike’ paid her travel to carry cocaine from Brazil and that she was to receive payment when she delivered the drug to his syndicate member.
Initially, the police didn’t believe the suspects as their passports showed they traveled into the country several times via Phuket to their destination in Bangkok.
Police presumed that they have been involved in drug trafficking a number of times and that their syndicate may be large, involving other accomplices. (MCOT online news)
