Thai women in Hong Kong warned of drug traffickers

HONG KONG, May 17 (TNA) - Thai women in Hong Kong have been warned of falling victims of transnational drug traffickers, especially those from Nigeria and other African nations. Suree Trairattanakul , Thai Deputy Consul-General in Hong Kong, said Thursday that several Thai women had been lured by transnational drug traffickers, especially Nigerian men, into smuggling drugs and were then jailed in Hong Kong. Suree reported that 71 Thai nationals are now imprisoned in Hong Kong, 55 of them are women and 32 of them were sentenced for drug offences, and that some of the Thai women voluntarily trafficked drugs for Africans, about 80-90% of them are Nigerians; while others were lured by their fake lovers into the trafficking. Suree noted that about 3-4 Thai people are arrested for drug offences in Hong Kong yearly, and that fake lovers of the Thai female victims usually persuade the Thai women to have overseas vacation with them but they will later claim to be unable to travel along and have the women to carry their bags which actually contain illicit drugs for them; so, such the Thai female victims have been arrested both in Hong Kong and Thailand. According to the senior Thai envoy, a narcotic offence is liable to up to 26 years in jail in Hong Kong and to death sentence in the Chinese mainland. The Thai deputy consul-general in Hong Kong revealed that a Thai national has been sentenced to death in Kunming in southern China and the Thai consul-general in Kunming is appealing to have the sentence commuted to imprisonment; while another Thai was previously executed for a drug offence in Guangzhou. The senior Thai envoy acknowledged that Hong Kong police had usually finalized drug cases before the Thai consulate was aware of the prosecution; therefore, it was mostly too late to offer help for the convicted Thai nationals, and that most drugs which have been seized in Hong Kong are crystal methamphetamine, hydrochloride or ice and cocaine. There are few cases of heroin and marijuana. (TNA)