PHUKET - A 65-year-old woman from the United States has been arrested after more than four kilogrammes of methamphetamine were found in her luggage as she boarded a plane to Singapore.
Police from Sakhu station in Thalang district searched Melba Sharp's suitcase when she checked in at a Scoot Airlines counter at Phuket airport on Sunday night.
They found four packages containing white crystals wrapped in paper and plastic and then concealed in four packaged bed sheets. There were 4.3 kilogrammes of what was believed to be methamphetamine.
Police unwrapped the linen as the packages seemed heavier than they should have been.
Ms Sharp, a resident of the state of California, was on her way to Singapore on Scoot Airways flight TR653.
Sakhu police chief Pol Col Salan Santisasanakul said police had received a tip-off that a departing passenger would be attempting to smuggle drugs through the airport.
They had asked the budget airline for the list of passengers, and suspicion had focused on the American woman.
She was held at Sakhu police station on suspicion of attempting to smuggle methamphetamine out of the country.
Methamphetamine crystals in four plastic bags that were wrapped in paper and hidden in bed sheets found in the woman's suitcase. (Photo: Supplied/Achadtaya Chuenniran)
