A young British man has been accused of trying to smuggle a suitcase full of crystal meth out of Thailand.
George Wilson is alleged to have been given 9.15kg of methamphetamine in a hotel in the red light area of Bangkok on Monday evening.
He allegedly told police he received the meth in a pink suitcase from a British drugs runner nicknamed ‘Snoopy’, and he was given 20,000 THB (£460) for his role in the chain.
Wilson was supposed to take the drugs through Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport and meet other gang members at his destination.
But the Thai capital’s vice squad had been tracking suspects for a number of days and were allegedly tipped off about the gang’s movements.
They arrested Wilson, 23, in a room at Le Fenix hotel after CCTV showed packages had been delivered there and a warrant to search the hotel was obtained.
His arrest was captured on body-worn video, and when an officer asked him what was in the suitcase, Wilson replied ‘I don’t know’.
Officers then opened the case and found 10 green foil bags of Chinese tea which were in fact full of meth.
At this point, Wilson was heard saying ‘I don’t know what it is’.
A quick chemical test was carried out on camera to prove the contents of the foil bags were actually illegal drugs.
Wilson, from High Wycombe, has been held in custody since the arrest. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday, October 1.
Colonel Siranawitcha Intorn, Superintendent of the Crime Suppression Division, said: ‘George Wilson has been charged with distributing Category 1 narcotics, specifically methamphetamine or ice, with intent to sell in violation of the law, which constitutes a commercial act that contributes to the spread of the drug among the public.
‘We believe he was part of a cross-border drug smuggling network, which is very serious. The amount of drugs seized was also very large. The highest levels of the Royal Thai Police have coordinated to make the arrest.’
Under Thai law, Category 1 narcotics includes heroin, methamphetamine, and other synthetic drugs.
Importing or exporting the substances carries a maximum punishment of the death penalty, followed by life in prison, though the death penalty is rarely handed out.
Lieutenant Colonel Pongtanin Bamrungsuksawat, the Deputy Chief of the Detective Division added: ‘I spoke English with the suspect. He confirmed that the items were his.
‘The charges were explained to him along with his rights and he was handcuffed and taken into custody for legal processing.’
Thailand has become a hub for drug trafficking as it shares borders with Laos and Myanmar, which have produced large amounts of opium since the 1950s but have shifted to meth in recent years.
Wilson is the latest Brit to face the death penalty or lengthy prison sentences for alleged drug smuggling while abroad.
Kial Robinson and Piran Ezra Wilkinson appeared in court in Indonesia earlier this month charged with trying to sneak 1.3kg of cocaine into Bali.
Three drug mules, Lisa Stocker, Jonathan Collyer and Phineas Float, were spared the death penalty in Bali after being stopped at the airport with 17 packages of cocaine.
Robert Brown was originally reported missing in Cambodia before he was charged with trying to smuggle £200,000 worth of cannabis into the UK.
And a couple were detained at Heathrow Airport in May after trying to smuggle £1million worth of cannabis from Thailand into the UK.
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