BANGKOK, March 14 (TNA) – Thai police of the Crime
Suppression Division (CSD) arrested a Japanese man aged 57 for allegedly trying
to smuggle crystal meth from Thailand to Japan by hiding the drug in the heads
of three golf clubs he asked his friend to carry to their homeland.
CSD commander Pol Maj Gen Jirapop Puridet said Kazuhiko Ono
was arrested after police found 700 grams of crystal meth inside the heads of
three woods that his friend presented for an examination.
Earlier Mr Ono had the friend carry the woods to Japan and
give them to another friend. But the friend in Bangkok suspected the unusually
heavy golf clubs and their shafts of different brands and sent them for
examination through the Japanese embassy.
Police also searched the suspect’s room and found four grams
of ‘ice’ and some marijuana. Police also saw surveillance camera footage
showing the suspect carrying golf clubs out of his room early this month.
The suspect denied the smuggling attempt and admitted only
to having ‘ice’ and marijuana for personal drug abuse.
An official from the Japanese embassy said the suspect had
been wanted for involvement in a loan shark gang in Japan and had hidden in
Thailand for 19 years.(TNA)
