Officers led by Lt Col Jaran Boonsopas of the Tha Chatchai Police seized 24 packs of marijuana during a search of a Phuket-registered Honda City at the Phuket Checkpoint as the car was being driven onto the island.
Police named the driver as Boonruang Sangjan, 44, from Phuket. His three passengers were named as Jaree Chuemkaew, 60, from Phuket, Thongphan Chuemkaew, 30, and a 3-year-old boy.
Police did not reveal the relationships among any of the four persons in the car.
The packs of marijuana bars were found hidden in the car’s engine bay, in the spare wheel compartment and behind the car’s spoiler.
Mr Boonruang and Ms Jaree were subsequently taken to Tha Chatchai Police Station for questioning.
Mr Boonruang told police, “Yesterday afternoon (Aug 8) I received a call from ‘Mr Tam’, who asked me and Ms Jaree to drive the car to the Thap Put Intersection (in Phang Nga Province).
“I was told to park the car on the road near the Shell petrol station. He asked me to leave the car for one hour so he could load the marijuana inside the car,” he said.
“After that Mr Tam asked me to drive the car to a housing estate in Thalang (in Phuket). Mr Tam asked me to turn left at the Heroines Monument, then drive for one kilometre further to the entrance to a housing estate,” Mr Boonruang explained. (See map below.)
“I was to be paid B10,000 per delivery,” Mr Boonruang noted.
Tha Chatchai Police Chief Col Prawit Sutthiruang-arun said, “After questioning the two, we found that Ms Thongphan was not involved in this case.”
“Mr Boonruang and Ms Jaree were charged with possession of Category 5 drug,” Col Prawit confirmed.
No mention was made of police efforts to track down “Mr Tam” or the person who was to receive the delivery in Phuket.