Laos Police Arrest Two Suspects Connected to Fuel Tanker Drug Trafficking Case

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Police in Laos say the two women were behind the smuggling of drugs into Thailand in an empty fuel tanker.
Police in Laos say the two women were behind the smuggling of drugs into Thailand in an empty fuel tanker.

Police in Laos have arrested two suspects connected to a recent drug trafficking case in which a petrol tanker smuggled narcotics into Thailand.

The two women, identified as 29-year-old Noudeng and a 45-year-old Done, both residents of Khammouane Province, said they had been working with a Thai petrol truck driver since 2019.

According to Lao Security News, the group had together smuggled illicit drugs from Laos to Thailand on seven occasions.  

The two women would contact the driver to arrange the delivery of narcotics while he was returning to Thailand from Laos after making fuel deliveries. He was paid up to THB 100,000 each time. Police say the women hired others to deliver drugs to the driver in order to conceal their identities.

Some 3.8 million amphetamine pills, ten kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, and 5,000 MDMA pills were found during a spot search of the fuel truck at the Nong Khai Customs House across the border from Laos in October.

Police say the haul had a street value of over THB 100 million (about USD 2,776,000).