Police have launched a campaign to prevent Thai women from being lured into working for foreign drug networks.
A police working group led by Royal Thai Police adviser Wuthi Liptapallop has found that 292 Thai women have been charged with drug smuggling offences in 35 countries since 2010.
"The number is unbelievably high," Pol Gen Wuthi said. "It could be the highest figure in the world among the countries which have such records."
Of these, 21 have returned to Thailand, including some brought back in body bags, he said.
The gangs approached the women online and lured them into travelling overseas with the promise of jobs, police said.
Some women were offered jobs selling clothes, jewellery and cosmetics in foreign countries. When the women arrived at their destinations, they were either tricked into unwittingly smuggling drugs, or were lured into knowingly shifting the drugs in exchange for payments.
Various smuggling methods have been employed to transport the drugs between different countries. They include swallowing packets of drugs, hiding drugs in bodily orifices, attaching narcotics to their underwear or carrying them inside hollow high-heeled shoes, police said.
The panel said six Thai women have been sentenced to death for drug offences overseas. Five of them are on death row in China and one in Vietnam. Four others are serving life terms.
The Department of Consular Affairs has been asked to help the convicted women by offering legal advice and trying to improve their living conditions in jail.
"We found northeastern women have most often fallen prey to the drug gangs," Pol Gen Wuthi said. "One hundred and forty-seven of them are detained in foreign jails.
"Economic problems and their preference to have relationships with male foreigners may have been among the causes."
The largest number of detained Thai females in drug cases is 50 in Taiwan, as the country is a key flight transit hub, followed by 49 in Brazil and 21 in China.
Pol Gen Wuthi said the country's image was being damaged by the incarceration of Thai female drug convicts and this led to visas being rejected for Thai women who want to work abroad in lawful fields.
To solve the problem, Pol Gen Wuthi said police are working in three areas _ prevention, suppression and help.
Female advocate groups will also be asked to raise public awareness on the matter.
One of the measures will involve the Immigration Bureau strengthening law enforcement.
The agency will examine foreigners who have overstayed their 60-day tourist visas in Thailand, and those who regularly apply for visas in neighbouring countries and then return to Thailand.
"Some of these people are believed to have been involved in illegal networks, dealing in drugs and of being involved in other crimes," Pol Gen Wuthi said.
Records of foreign drug networks have been obtained, said Pol Gen Wuthi, adding that eight members of the gangs are the subject of arrest warrants.
Pol Gen Wuthi's panel consists of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, the Special Branch Bureau, the Anti-Human Trafficking Division, the Immigration Bureau and police in the key tourism provinces of Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Phuket, Pathum Thani and Surat Thani.
The panel kicked off its work last week by holding a meeting with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, the Department of Consular Affairs and the Department of Employment.
The Department of Employment's 1694 hotline can be reached around the clock to help Thais examine the legitimacy of foreign job offers, Pol Gen Wuthi said.
People who have information about foreign drug gangs can contact the Narcotics Suppression Bureau's hotline 1386, Prachabodi Call Centre on 1300, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on 02-5512246-7 and the 191 emergency hotline.
Contact Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th