AAITF arrested Vietnamese courier gang working for West African Syndicate.
News / View / AAITF
Tuesday 18th of April 2017
AAITF arrested Vietnamese courier gang working for West African Syndicate.
On 17 April 2017, ONCB together with the Narcotics Suppression Bureau of the Royal Thai Police and Royal Thai Customs, operated under the AAITF, arrested Mr. Tran Ngoc Thoi, a bearer of Viet Nam passport, with cocaine weighed 1,332 gram concealed in a chocolate box in a duty free shop plastic bag which he carried on the plane. The offender travelled from Lomé–Tokoin International Airport (Togo), transferred at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (Ethiopia) to Suvarnabhumi Airport on flight ET618.
From the interrogation, Mr. Tran, the offender, confessed that there would be a Vietnamese waiting to take that drug at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Therefore, this case was expanded by letting the offender contact the person to whom he had to handover the drug. A Vietnamese woman instructed the offender to meet at carousel no.7. After the offender handing over the drug, the AAITF team took the woman, a Ms. Ngo Thi Lien, bearer of a Vietnam passport into custody. After checking her passport, it was found that Ms. Ngo Thi Lien departed from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Suvarnabhumi Airport by flight VJ803 at 12.30 hrs. on the same day. Ms. Ngo said that she had to bring this drug to another Vietnamese who was waiting at the taxi parking of Suvarnabhumi Airport and they would deliver the drug to a West African who has a Vietnamese wife waiting at the hotel in Pratunam area in Bangkok.
The arrest team expanded the result by bringing Ms. Ngo, the second offender, to the taxi parking floor of the airport. A Vietnamese man came to her and took the bag with the drug. The arrest team then identified themselves and arrested the third offender, whose name was Mr. Nguyen Van Em, bearer of a Vietnam passport who travelled to Thailand in the same flight with Ms. Ngo.
Later, the arrest team brought all three offenders to an interrogation, According to the offenders, they were persuaded by a Vietnamese woman who has a West African husband and live in Bangkok and, Ms. Ngo, the second offender, had to bring the drug to them at the meeting point.
From expanding the arrest, the targets (the Vietnamese woman and the West African man) wanted Ms. Ngo to deliver the drug at a hotel in Pratunam. The owner of this hotel is in a West African syndicate which is a target of a suppression unit. The AAITF team assessed that the situation was beyond the mandate of the team and ceased the operation.
