Thai Authorities Cooperate on Drug Smuggling Case at Fukuoka Airport

Thai authorities are stepping up coordination with their Japanese counterparts over the case of a 28-year-old Thai woman arrested at Fukuoka Airport for attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," hidden in coffee sachets. Japanese prosecutors are due to decide on Friday whether to indict Juthathip Thongnoi, according to Areepak Ngernbamroong, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). If prosecutors decide not to press charges, any further action, including possible deportation, will depend on Japanese law and the circumstances of the case, Ms Areepak said on Tuesday. Foreign nationals who are not prosecuted are often barred from re-entering Japan, although each case is considered on its own merits, she added. ONCB investigators on Monday interviewed Ms Juthathip’s father, Thanasak Thongnoi, and her boyfriend, who recently returned from Japan. Both provided photographs and Line chat records to assist the investigation. However, officials said the boyfriend had not personally collected the parcel before the trip, leaving Ms Juthathip as the person best placed to explain how she came into possession of it. Ms Areepak stressed that Thai authorities were not rushing the investigation to meet the Japanese prosecution deadline, saying officials needed sufficient time to gather all relevant evidence. The risky business of people hiring out their services as couriers has come under a harsh spotlight since the arrest of a Thai flight attendant in Australia in late June. She was caught with 1.8 kilogrammes of heroin concealed in souvenir tote bags that she had agreed to bring on a flight to Melbourne. Investigators have yet to determine whether the latest case in Japan is linked to another recent drug-smuggling operation in which a Vietnamese suspect was arrested after methamphetamine was found concealed in containers of tamarind paste. Although the organisers in both cases are believed to be Vietnamese nationals, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether they are connected or part of the same trafficking network, Ms Areepak said. The case came to light after Ms Juthathip’s family sought help through local media, insisting she had unknowingly transported the drugs after accepting a job delivering parcels for Thai customers living in Japan. According to her family, she travelled to Japan with her boyfriend and another companion on July 11 after agreeing to deliver a 12-kilogramme parcel for a customer using the Line account name “ing ing” in return for 3,600 baht. The customer had reportedly used her parcel-delivery service once before. She was detained on arrival at Fukuoka Airport the following day after Japanese authorities found crystal methamphetamine concealed in coffee sachets among the nine parcels she was carrying. Her travelling companions were questioned and later released. Her father has maintained that she was an unwitting courier and has appealed to authorities to identify those behind the operation.