Dutchman arrested in Thailand for ecstasy and marijuana smuggling

Thai police arrested a Dutchman and a Briton on suspicion of drug smuggling on Wednesday. According to local authorities, the pair smuggled ecstasy into Thailand and planned to smuggle cannabis from Thailand to the UK. Thailand has very strict drug laws and the pair could face years in prison.

Police seized a shipment of ecstasy, hidden in a jar of diet powder, sent by post from the UK to Thailand on 4 November. The Drug Enforcement Unit launched an investigation into the recipients of the package, which identified them as Dutch and British. They were arrested in Bangkok.

After the arrests, the police searched two houses. They found bags of marijuana weighing a total of 30 kilos in a house in the Khlong Toei district. “Packaging equipment and a machine to vacuum package the drugs were also found,” Thai police said. Facebook. Police said documents found in the house showed that the suspects were planning to smuggle the marijuana to England via pillow shipments. Police found another 6 kilos of marijuana, also packaged in vacuum bags, in the second house.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced RTL New He said he was aware of his arrest. A spokesman said it was unclear whether the Dutch had requested consular assistance.

Thailand removed marijuana from its list of banned substances two years ago, but illegal trade in the soft drug still carries heavy penalties.

RTL wrote that penalties for dealing in ecstasy, which is classified as a “Category 1 drug” in the Southeast Asian country, are even higher. Import, export and production of drugs in this category are punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment. The judge may also impose the death penalty, but this rarely results in actual execution.