Early in the morning on June 18, a message from an unknown account slipped into the TikTok inbox of a flight attendant in Bangkok with a series of questions: "Are you flying to Australia? Do you do carry-for-hire? What is your rate?"
The 30-year-old, who flies for a regional budget carrier, ignored the message and forgot about it — until Tuesday, when a Thai Airways International flight attendant was charged with importing more than one kilogramme of heroin into Australia hidden in several tote bags.
"I don't reply to strangers like this," the Bangkok flight attendant told Reuters, referring to the account that messaged her. She asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. "We've been constantly warned about this, no carry-for-hire. It's a well-known rule."
The unknown account — named "Powder is Powder" in Thai — was linked to drug trafficking networks that create fake social media accounts to find people to move illicit substances across borders, said Areepak Ngernbamroong, spokeswoman for the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). "The account has now been shut down," Ms Areepak said. "The ONCB is investigating, and preliminary findings indicate that the account used many different names."
In a statement following the detention, Thai Airways said it had strict rules governing the conduct of all employees and would cooperate with the relevant authorities.
Cross-border movement
After procuring drugs from neighbouring countries with large production facilities, trafficking networks move the substances through Thailand concealed in items such as clothing, coffee packets, and vases, according to Thai authorities. The cultivation of opium poppies for the production of heroin in neighbouring Myanmar surged to its highest level in a decade in 2025, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported in December.
War-torn Myanmar is the world's main known source of illicit opium, amid declining production in Afghanistan, as conflict and economic hardship push more farmers into the illicit trade. In Thailand, trafficking networks target specific groups of travellers, including flight attendants, to help transport the drugs overseas, said Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol, secretary-general of the ONCB.
In the case of the Thai Airways flight attendant arrested in Australia, she had initially posted in a social media group where people offer to carry items overseas for a fee, he said.
The flight attendant then began communicating with a Facebook user named "Rose Rose", according to Pol Maj Suriya.
"They later agreed on a fee of 8,800 baht," he told reporters.
The heroin concealed within the lining of the bags carried by the attendant had an estimated street value of A$500,000 (11.5 million baht), according to the Australian Federal Police.
Using similar methods, drug smuggling networks had prepared to send five more packages from the Thai capital Bangkok to Australia and Taiwan between June 30 and July 1, said Pol Maj Suriya.
"But authorities seized 24.38 kilogrammes of heroin, concealed in traditional goods, silk clothing, coffee sachets, and winter jackets," he said, adding that Thai agencies were coordinating with Australian and Taiwanese authorities.
So far, Thai authorities have taken into custody two people, a Thai man and his Lao wife, suspected of sending drug parcels from the border province of Loei to Bangkok.
The names of the couples were identified only as Mr Arthit, 43, and Ms Thatsaphon, 42, according to the Bangkok Post. The name of the THAI cabin attendant was identified as Ms Meena, 26.
