Police hunt for drug courier in Australia who was waiting to collect air hostess heroin package
Police are hunting a drug courier who was waiting to collect a heroin package from a glamorous Thai air hostess in Australia.
Thai anti-narcotics police said they were tracking down a Thai woman, identified only by her pseudonym Deer, believed to be part of a drug smuggling ring operating between the two countries.
She was allegedly the intended recipient of a heroin shipment seized from flight attendant and former beauty queen Mina, who was arrested at Melbourne Airport on June 25, where Australian Border Force officers reportedly discovered drugs in her tote bags.21
Areephak Ngoenbumrung, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said on Monday that Deer had been living and working in Australia for more than 10 years, but it was unclear if she had Australian citizenship.
She had allegedly received similar drug parcels on multiple occasions.
The ONCB chief added: 'We will expedite the collection of evidence in all aspects, including financial trails, money laundering transactions and the network's entire modus operandi, before forwarding it to the Thai Embassy and the Thai Consulate in Australia.
‘The information will be used to support the legal defence and protect Mina, who is currently being detained pending legal proceedings.
‘The court has scheduled a hearing in this case for September 14.
‘We believe the remaining time will be sufficient to expand the investigation, dismantle the network at its source and provide supporting evidence to the justice process in time.'
Police Lieutenant General Theeradej Thamsuthee, deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the gang created fake social media accounts to hire flight attendants to transport drug-loaded luggage.
The fake accounts would send mass chats to cabin crew, offering payments to carry goods across borders.
The narcotics are believed to be produced in the drug-riddled Golden Triangle region in Southeast Asia before being trafficked through Thailand's borders, particularly along the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom, Bueng Kan, Loei and Nong Khai provinces.
The ONCB has questioned Mina's boyfriend, who said he helped her pack the elephant-print fabric bags into a large suitcase on the day of her departure. He claimed he checked each bag and found nothing suspicious.
The luggage also passed through airport X-ray screening in Thailand without raising any alarms.
Officials said they were verifying if Mina was indeed paid to deliver the tote bags to Australia.
They said her testimony was consistent with suspected drug courier Uthai Khanapiwat, 42, who was detained at his home in Phitsanulok for allegedly delivering the heroin-filled tote bags to Mina's home.
Tall brunette Mina, who had previously won beauty pageants, was charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug and possessing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, both of which carry a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.
She was remanded in custody on June 26 and is scheduled to reappear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on September 14.
