A Kenyan woman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport on Saturday with more than one kilogramme of cocaine in her stomach, according to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).
ONCB secretary-general Niyom Termsrisuk told a press conference that the woman, who was not identified, flew in from Angola. An X-ray showed she had swallowed 1.2kg of cocaine in a bid to avoid detection.
The arrest was conducted jointly by the ONCB and the customs officials who act under the Airport Interdiction Task Force (AITF) responsible for intercepting transnational drug traffickers.
Mr Niyom said that shortly before the woman's arrest, customs officials nabbed a 19-year-old Thai woman for trying to smuggle 3kg of cocaine into the country through a border checkpoint in Nong Khai.
The suspect was arrested after she crossed the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
Since the beginning of the last fiscal year in October last year, police have seized a total of 30kg of cocaine in 22 separate cases. Most of the drug suspects told police they had obtained the drugs from overseas suppliers.
Mr Niyom noted that cocaine is less common than other drugs in Thailand, and that it is mostly sold to well-to-do party-goers and patrons of high-end night entertainment venues.
Cocaine is taken from the stomach of a Kenyan woman caught at Suvarnabhumi airport on Saturday. (Supplied photo)