Officers from Phuket Airport Customs with Sakhu Police made the arrest in the international departures terminal at about 10am on 8 July.[1] The detainee was 30-year-old Russian Sergei Chalabari, stopped before a flight to Kazakhstan.[2] During questioning, he admitted that the luggage and all of the seized cannabis belonged to him.[1] Officers charged him with attempting to smuggle goods out of Thailand without going through customs procedures and handed him with the seized evidence to investigators at Sakhu Police Station.[1]
He was travelling with two blue BP WORLD wheeled suitcases weighing a combined eight kilogrammes.[1] A search of the luggage found 35 vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis flowers weighing 11.4 kg including packaging and 12 bags of cannabis resin weighing 6.2 kg including packaging.[1] The two finds made 47 vacuum-sealed packs in total.[2] Together they were reported as 17.6 kg of cannabis.[1] Officers seized the cannabis and both suitcases as evidence.[1] Police valued the haul at about 264,000 US dollars.[2] The cannabis was to be taken to Almaty.[2] Customs officers warned tourists not to agree to carry cannabis or anyone else’s parcels, noting that unlawful export of one kilogramme carries a 30,000-baht fine.[2]
Thailand became the first Asian country to legalise cannabis cultivation and use in 2022, spurring tourism and cannabis shops, but domestic liberalisation does not cover export.[2] The arrest was described as the third major cannabis-export case at the airport in just over a week.[1]
