SONGKHLA: A Malaysian suspect was arrested with 64 kilogrammes of dried marijuana destined for Malaysia during a raid on a guesthouse in Hat Yai district on Saturday, police said.
The raid by a team of drug suppression police followed a report that a large quantity of drugs had been delivered by car to the guesthouse at Moo 12 village in tambon Khuan Lang of Hat Yai.
The authorities arrested a Malaysian national identified as Sures Dinakaran, 36, who was staying at the guesthouse. They found bars of compressed marijuana, weighing 64kg, hidden in false compartments in his Malaysian-registered Honda Accord.
Police said this type of dried marijuana would have fetched about 700,000 baht in Thailand, or about 10,000 baht per kg. The price would triple to about 30,000 baht per kg in Malaysia.
The suspect said he had been hired to smuggle the marijuana across the border to Malaysia and paid 30,000 baht for each delivery, according to police.
He said his first smuggling job was in February this year after he met a Thai masseuse in Penang, who bought the Honda Accord in his name for this purpose.
The suspect said he usually drove the car into Thailand via Sadao border checkpoint to pick up marijuana from a coffee shop in Hat Yai of Songkhla. He would then stay at the guesthouse before smuggling the drug into Malaysia through the Prakob border checkpoint in Na Thawi district.
He said he had done this three times before being caught during the fourth delivery.
