Original Story THE NATION Teacher, four others held over bid to traffic heroin Published on October 23, 2001 Police announced yesterday they had cracked an international drug-trafficking ring after arresting three suspected gang members at Don Muang airport in possession of 4.3 kilograms of heroin and a flight ticket to Taiwan. Maj-General Pornpat Suyanan, deputy commissioner of the Police Narcotics Suppression Division, presented the suspects during a press conference yesterday. Police made the arrests on Friday. The suspects included 34-year-old Briton Julian Nicholas Gilbey, who allegedly worked in Bangkok as an English teacher. The other suspects arrested at Don Muang were identified as 48-year-old Dutch national Marinus Hendrikus Parlevliet and 28-year-old Thai national Nam-oi Nakcharoen. "[The British, Dutch and Thai suspects] were caught together with the heroin concealed in a black travel bag," Pornpat explained. "Gilbey works in Bangkok as an English-teacher and rents a room in the Ratchadapisek area," he added. Also being detained in connection with the case are two Nepalese - 27-year-old Bahadur Gurung Hari and 30-year-old Pore Ghale - who were arrested outside a major department store in the Ratchadapisek area, Pornpat said. Five cellular phones were confiscated during the arrests, he added. Pornpat said anti-drug police had previously been tracking the group. Ghale and Hari were suspected of procuring the heroin in northern Thailand, before allegedly passing it to Gilbey for trafficking, he said. Police observers watched as Nam-oi and Parlevliet visited Gilbey at his room on Friday, Pornpat said. The three later left together for the airport. "We suspect Gilbey was about to board the flight to Taiwan when we arrested him and his accomplices," he added. The five suspects will stay in police custody pending further investigation. Police yesterday also arrested three suspects found with 90,000 methamphetamine tablets in their possession at the parking lot of a Tesco-Lotus Supercentre in Bangkok. The suspects were identified as Manas Saengdee and Chaiporn Suntornthai, both 32, and 27-year-old Winai Srivijit. They were expected to be held on trafficking charges while undergoing police questioning.
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