Police arrested a South African woman this week attempting to smuggle two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (ya ice) through Suvarnabhumi Airport on the same day another South African woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to bring 1.5kg of cocaine into Thailand hidden in her dreadlocks.
Acting on a tip-off, police at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday stopped Adelina Ntshebleng Lephutha Ononiwu, 31, who had earlier arrived from Nairobi, Kenya and was waiting for a flight to Cambodia, South Africa’s Independent Online (IOL) reported.
Police found the ya ice in three bags stashed in a secret compartment in her luggage and estimated the value at over THB2.5 million.
“She said she was hired by a Nigerian man to deliver the luggage to Phnom Penh,” Colonel Pornchai Charoenwong of the Narcotic Suppression Bureau said.
“He paid her THB24,000 and said she will get a further THB200,000 when the job was completed,” he said. Col. Pornchai added that Ononiwu’s journey began in the West African nation of Benin.
A Bangkok court on Monday sentenced South African “dreadlock drug smuggler” Nolubabalo “Babsie” Nobanda to 15 years in jail for smuggling 1.5kg into Thailand hidden in her dreadlocks. Nobanda was arrested on December 12 at Suvarnabhumi Airport after police noticed a white substance in her knotted hair.
