A high school student has been arrested at a post office in Nakhon Phanom as he was mailing 10kg of marijuana to a customer who ordered it via Facebook.
The 17-year-old (name withheld), a Mathayom Suksa 6 student at a school in Tha Uthen district, was apprehended at the district post office by local officials on Tuesday afternoon, Nakhon Phanom governor Adisak Thep-ard said.
They seized from him 10 bars of compressed marijuana in a parcel box, along with a pickup truck with an Udon Thani licence plate, some cash, and a bank book. The marijuana was destined for a customer in Chon Buri.
Officials then searched the student's home. They found nothing illegal, apart from a notebook computer he used to deal the drug on Facebook.
The arrest followed an investigation into reports teenagers were selling drugs on Facebook. They traced the deals and found the 17-year-old student.
The youth was detained for further questioning.
Mr Adisak expressed concern over the sale of marijuana online. He said the young dealer had confessed he had made about 20 postal deliveries of marijuana.
The student said he sold the drug to earn money for personal spending. He bought the compressed marijuana from a Lao dealer at 2,500-3,000 baht a kilo and sold it at 6,500-7,000 baht a kilo, the governor said. The mailed boxes were wrapped in plastic to prevent post office staff noticing the smell.
Kittithon Thanakornsirikul, head of Nakhon Phanom post office, said his staff had scanners to check parcels for illegal items or explosives. Senders of parcels weighing more than 20kg were required to show identification, to help prevent the mail being used to send illegal goods.
He admitted his office could not intercept all illicit drugs sent in parcels.