Customs officers and narcotics suppression police have teamed up to confiscate heroin worth 97 million baht headed for Taiwan and Australia on three recent ocasions, according to Theeraj Athanavanich, the director-general of the Customs Department.
The first suspicious cargo inspected at Bangkok Port on Aug 7 was declared as meat grinders and meatball making machines destined for Taiwan. Officers found 11.8 kilogrammes of heroin, valued at 35.2 million baht, hidden in the motors of two grinders.
The following day, customs officers found 20.25kg of heroin worth 60.75 million baht hidden in 600 pieces of hilltribe clothing at Bangkok Port. The shipment was bound for Australia.
At the Suvarnabhumi airport post office, meanwhile, a search of a package destined for Australia found heroin hidden in the side wall of a postal parcel box. Its total weight was 320 grammes and its value was about 960,000 baht.