SURAT THANI: An Italian has been arrested at his house on Koh Phangan after 500 ecstasy pills were found hidden in packets of instant noodles sent to him from overseas.
Pol Col Suparuek Phankosol, superintendent of Surat Thani immigration, said yesterday that customs officials inspected a parcel at the Bangkok Mail Centre on Monday. It was sent from the Netherlands and addressed to a resident of Koh Phangan district.
Officials opened the parcel and found 500 pink ecstasy pills, weighing 205 grammes, hidden inside packets of instant noodles. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the home of the addressee, Naomi Cometto.
Police arrived at the house in tambon Koh Phangan and found an Italian man, 39, living there with his Thai wife and their five-year-old daughter.
A search of the house uncovered 15.77 grammes of methamphetamine hidden in a can.
During interrogation, the Italian suspect said he and his family had lived on Koh Phangan for two years. He did not work, and liked to go to parties held on the island. He received 25,000 baht a month from relatives in Italy. He allegedly admitted buying the methamphetamine from a French man identified only as Francis, at a party on Koh Phangan, and said he took some of the drug a week ago.
He was charge with possession of illicit drugs with intent to sell.