Original Story

3 held in heroin bust

Published on Mar 31, 2003 

Three foreigners were arrested and 7.5 kilograms of
heroin destined for Taiwan was seized in police raids
on an alleged international drug ring on Saturday
night, police said yesterday.

The suspects were identified as Suresh Gurang, 28,
of Nepal, Fabio Jouliani, 35, from New Zealand and
Reza Mohammad, 35, of Iran, Crime Suppression
Division (CSD) deputy commander Pol Colonel Kowit
Wongrungroj said.

The three were arrested separately at their
apartments in Bangkok's Makkasan and Huai
Khwang districts late on Saturday night.

The suspects are believed to be members of an
international crime network linked to Middle Eastern
suspects now in Thai jails, Kowit told a press
conference at CSD headquarters yesterday. 

He said the group was also suspected of operating
other illegal businesses in Thailand, including
passport counterfeiting. 

A raid on one of the apartments yielded 2.5kg of heroin. 
A search of another apartment belonging to
another suspected gang member, Nepalese national
Bimal Pun, 46, turned up another 5kg of heroin, police
said. Pun was still at large.

A search of Gurang's apartment turned up a large
briefcase containing Thai, Nepalese and US currency
valued at a combined Bt5 million.

All the suspects were charged with drug trafficking
and could face the death penalty if found guilty. 

The seized heroin was obtained in the Golden
Triangle - a drug-producing region where the borders
of Laos, Burma and Thailand meet - with the help of
local drug dealers, Kowit was quoted as saying by
Associated Press. 

He said Gurang told police he had planned to take the
drugs to Taiwan, where he and Pun were to have
been paid US$4,000 (Bt172,000). 
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