Uncle, nephew, arrested while loading 120kg of marijuana into tuk-tuk in Phuket Town

PHUKET: Two men were arrested in Phuket Town last night as they were loading 120 kilogrammes of dried marijuana into a tuk-tuk in order to deliver it to a department store in Rassada, police announced earlier today (Jan 13).

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By Eakkapop Thongtub

Monday 13 January 2020, 05:57PM

At a press conference held at Phuket City Police Station, Phuket City Police Chief Col Theerawat Liamsuwan explained that the arrests followed a tip-off received yesterday that claimed that contraband from Bangkok was being delivered to Soi Nimit 2, off Ong Sim Phai Rd in Phuket Town.

The contraband would be wrapped in parcels, but without any information of sender and receiver on them, the informant said.

Acting on the information, officers moved in at 9pm after they saw Chaiwat Semsawat, 54, and his nephew Chana Chulak, 44, arrive in a tuk-tuk and start loading cardboard boxes into it.

Inside the boxes were 98 packs – 22 yellow packs and 76 red packs – containing a total of 120kg of dried marijuana, Col Theerawat said.

Chaiwat and Chana were brought to Phuket City Police Station and charged with possession of a Category 5 drug, he confirmed, while the two suspects sat in front of the press while wearing crash helmets to hide their faces.

Chaiwat and Chana told the press today that one was a fisherman and the other a “normal employee”, and police made no mention where the tuk-tuk driver was at the time Chaiwat and Chana were arrested.

Chaiwat told the press today that he had ordered the marijuana from Bangkok through a Line contact using the name “Khwam Khid” (“Thought”) in Thai.

Chaiwat explained that he was called by a man to deliver the marijuana to a department store in Rassada and that he would be paid B5,000 for making the drop.

However he and Chana were arrested while moving the marijuana to the tuk-tuk, he said.

Chana, however, said that he did not know what was in the boxes.

He said that Chaiwat had asked him to help move the boxes, and for that he he would give him some money.

Col Theerawat said that police are continuing their investigation to track down the person in Bangkok who arranged for the marijuana to be delivered to Phuket.