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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National

How drug gangs use social media to recruit Thai air crew as couriers

Officers escort a Thai man who was brought from Loei for questioning at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) in Bangkok on Friday. He and his Laotian wife are suspected of involvement in delivering packages containing drugs to Bangkok to be transported overseas. (Photo: Reuters)

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.

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