A former masseuse has been arrested after more than 11kg of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice", with a street value of 20 million baht was found hidden in the heels of shoes imported from China.
Em-orn Palasen, 28, of Udon Thani’s Kumphawapi district, was apprehended when she showed up to collect the consignment at a transport company, CTT Logistics Co, in Nakhon Pathom’s Sam Phran district on Wednesday, Pol Lt Col Dilok Ruennate, deputy investigation chief at Metropolitan Police Bureau division 3, said on Thursday at a media briefing.
Police found 11.6kg of crystal methamphetamine concealed inside the heels of 58 pairs of women's shoes imported from China.
The seized drugs were worth about 20 million baht, according to police.
Pol Lt Col Dilok said the arrest followed a tip-off that a foreigner and his Thai girlfriend would pick up a consignment of drugs smuggled in the form of imported goods from CTT Logistics Co on Wednesday afternoon.
When Ms Em-orn arrived to collect two boxes of goods, police pounced and arrested her. The boxes held many pairs of women's shoes Ms Em-orn said were purchased from China at 250 baht a pair, Pol Lt Col Dilok said.
A closer examination of the shoes found the heels looked unusual, so police prised them open and found the drugs stuffed inside.
A search of her room at Building 12 in the Muang Thong Thani complex found several pairs of female shoes with the heels removed.
Her Nigerian boyfriend, identified later as Anajemba Chukwunonso Lawrence, 35, fled shortly before police arrived, Pol Lt Col Dilok said. Police were tracking him down.
The woman told police that she previously worked as a traditional masseuse in Bahrain, before meeting her Nigerian boyfriend via social media. Their relationship developed and they had been sweethearts for about one year before he asked her to pick up goods at the transport firm in Nakhon Pathom.
The goods had been sent from China to Laos and then to Thailand, entering through a border checkpoint in Mukdahan. The goods were then taken to Nakhon Pathom.
She admitted she had picked up six deliveries. She was held in police custody on charges of possessing illicit drugs with intent to sell.
Em-orn Palasen, 28, (right), is shown at a police media conference with many women's shoes stuffed with crystal methamphetamine on the table in front of her. The picture also show suspects in another criminal case. (Photo from the Metropolitan Police Bureau Facebook)