2.6 kilos of cocaine smuggled out of NAIA
The Manila International Airport Authority [MIAA] has ordered the Office of Transportation Security [OTS] to conduct an investigation against their security screeners after two Thai women who came from Manila managed to smuggle 2.6 kilos of high grade cocaine out of the country.
A high ranking airport official, who refused to be named, said the two Thai women were intercepted when they arrived in Thailand.
In September this year, four Filipino women were intercepted at the Hong Kong airport for the foiled smuggling of prohibited drugs from Manila.
On Saturday (November 21), Bangkok customs officials arrested Siriwan Yodteerak, 32, and Aaew Wijit 34, upon their arrival at the Krabi airport.
The two suspects reportedly concealed in their hand carry luggages the 2.6 kilos of high grade cocaine, which was “clandestinely packed in a special compartment.”
The suspects both admitted that they were paid to bring the illegal drugs to Thailand.
MIAA is now reviewing the close circuit television [CCTV] footage of the two Thailand nationals to determine how they were managed to smuggle the illegal drugs without being detected by the security screeners when they passed through the NAIA Terminal 3.
“If the OTS security scanners can detect a single bullet hid in the luggages of an OFW and other passengers, how come that they mysteriously failed to detect the 2.6 kilos of high grade cocaine in the hand carry luggages of the suspected drug mules,” said the airport official, who requested an anonymity
The MIAA official said they learned about the incident after the Thai women were presentef in a press conference held at the Customs Department in Bangkok on Monday (November 23).
The suspects left Manila at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday on board an Air Asia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur, where they transferred to another aircraft and arrived in Krabi on the same day.
However, suspects baggage reportedly flew on another flight and arrived on Sunday at 7:30 a.m.
An X-ray scanner found suspicious items in the baggage and subjected it in a more-thorough screening.
The scanner.found a black plastic bag containing 2.6 kilos of cocaine hidden in a secret compartment. Thailand authorities reported that the drugs have an estimated street value of 10.4 million Baht.
Sriwan was arrested after she arrived to pick up the luggage. She later spilled the beans, which led to the arrest of Aaew in a hotel in Krabi.
Sriwan confessed that she was paid 60,000 baht by Aaew’s African boyfriend to smuggle the high grade cocaine from the Philippines to Thailand.
Sriwan claimed that the foreign drug dealers tried to persuade her to be a drug mule several times but she refused. She only agreed this time due to a financial problem.