BANGKOK - Thai authorities have seized crystal methamphetamine with a street value of almost $30 million stuffed inside boxing punch bags bound for Australia, officials said on Thursday.
Customs officers inspected the shipment after growing suspicious of the Thai-made training equipment which is not in high demand in Australia, Thai and Australian officials investigating the matter told a news conference in Bangkok.
More than 193 kg (425 lb) of the drugs, also known as ice, were hidden among 15 different bags.
Surrounded by cameras, a Thai customs official sliced through a long cardboard box and then the red outer layer of the boxing punch bag, exposing the drugs hidden amongst the stuffing.
“Australia consumes around 11 tons of methamphetamine per year,” Australian Border Force Acting Superintendent Joel Carruthers said. “So there’s a market for it, and disrupting it offshore in countries such as Thailand is fantastic.”
Methamphetamine production in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle - a border region between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar - has been increasing sharply in recent years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
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Founded in 2011 in response to a growing need for more rugged and technologically advanced mobile and handheld spectroscopic analyzers, Rigaku Analytical Devices is a leading innovator of solutions for use in the protection of public health and safety and aid in the advancement of scientific and academic study. Several members joined Rigaku Analytical Devices after spending critical roles developing analytical equipment currently used by law enforcement, customs and border protection, first responders, military and others.
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