Cops arrest Iranian for drugs scam

An Iranian has been busted for allegedly planting drugs in the luggage of a Japanese tourist leaving the country, Immigration Bureau (IB) chief Surachate Hakparn said yesterday.

Mohamad Ali Ezazi, 43, was apprehended at a hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 2 in Klong Toey district on Friday, Pol Lt Gen Surachate told a press conference.

Seized from the suspect were 3.65 kilogrammes of crystal meth, or ya ice, and 5.845 kg of ya ice-impregnated clothes, he said.

The arrest, he said, came after IB deputy commander Ittipol It tisarnronnachai was contacted by the Japanese embassy in Thailand on Friday about the case in which the Japanese tourist was lured into travelling for free to various countries but asked to carry suspicious items in his luggage.

The probe uncovered that a Japanese travel website provided overseas tour packages for free with Thailand serving as the first destination.

The tourist was asked by website staff to take the luggage of another Japanese traveller who had supposedly left it behind in Thailand by accident, Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.

However, the traveller opened the luggage and found suspiciously hard clothes so the person consulted the Japanese embassy about the matter.

Drug-impregnated clothes were found in four plastic packages recovered from the luggage, the IB chief said, admitting this method of drug transport was rarely seen in Thailand.

Six packages of ya ice were also found hidden inside the internal frame of the luggage, he said.

This led officers to raid two of the suspect’s condominiums, where they found a suitcase that appeared to have been used to carry drugs before and another that contained five packages of ya ice.

Pol Maj Gen Ittipol said the suspect confessed to working with other Iranians and Yakuza in Japan to deceive tourists into carrying luggage with drugs hidden inside by offering free tour packages.