Thirteen foreigners posing as tourists were arrested at Samui airport over four days for attempting to smuggle 375 kg of cannabis out of Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported on 16 March 2025.[1][2][3] Twelve of them were bound for Singapore and one for Hong Kong, with planned final destinations including the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore.[1][2]

The cannabis was seized from 22 bags at the airport, with an estimated street value of about 75 million baht (about US$2.2 million).[1][2][3] Thai authorities said some of the couriers were hired to carry the cannabis and were promised payment or repayment of debts.[1][2]

Final swoop and mule network

In the latest incident, four British men were arrested at the airport on the Saturday with 131 kg of dried cannabis buds in eight suitcases.[1][2][3] Named only as Antony, 63, Billy, 37, Philld, 63, and John, 34, they fled the terminal after the cannabis was spotted during bag scanning but were caught and charged with smuggling cannabis and violating the cannabis control law.[1][2]

Immigration police in Surat Thani said the men were on a paid trip: they flew domestically from Bangkok to Ko Samui and were to carry the cannabis from Samui to Singapore first, then onward to other countries, for £2,000 (about US$2,500) each.[1][2] The nine other foreigners arrested earlier in the four-day operation were sentenced to four months in jail.[1][2][3]

The Bangkok Post said the cannabis would have sold for about 200,000 baht per kilogramme on the overseas market, or about 75 million baht for the whole haul.[4] Immigration police in Surat Thani said the four British men were hired abroad as tourists, with their flights and hotels paid for, and were promised 2,000 pounds (about 87,000 baht) for carrying the cannabis out of the country.[3] Police said the ring might also include a black suitcase that a Surat Thani couple mistakenly carried to Japan, where 24 kg of dried cannabis was found inside; it had been checked in by a 51-year-old British man identified as Mark Barlow.[4] Surat Thani police chief Pol Maj Gen Sermpan Sirikong said Barlow entered Thailand at Suvarnabhumi airport on 6 March, made no tourist trips, and left the country for South Korea on 14 March, the day after he travelled out of Surat Thani airport.[5] Matichon reported that Surat Thani provincial police investigators with Bo Phut police station were urgently gathering evidence on the origin of that cannabis batch, and that officers expected Barlow may have belonged to the same group as the tourists caught at Samui airport.[5]