Latest news with #CustomsOfficers
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
More than 60kg of methamphetamine, worth $22m, seized at Auckland Airport
Auckland International Airport. Photo: DEAN TREML Customs officers at Auckland International Airport seized more than 60 kilograms of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of more than $22 million, from two bags overnight. The unaccompanied duffle bags, which arrived on a flight from Malaysia, were identified by Customs officers undertaking routine screening of incoming passengers and baggage, Customs Auckland Airport manager Paul Williams said. The officers discovered vacuum-sealed packages inside the bags, which tested positive for methamphetamine. One bag contained 30kg of the Class A drug and the other, 30.3kg. Williams said the quantity of methamphetamine had an estimated street value of $22.6 million, and could have caused around $63.26 million in potential harm and cost to New Zealand. He credited the intercept to the "eagle-eyed and highly skilled Customs officers who once again prevented harmful drugs from entering the community". "Its been a demanding year for Customs officers at Auckland International Airport, with organised criminal groups attempting to move increasingly large volumes of illicit drugs through the border," Williams said. "While we work hard to support law-abiding travellers during the school holiday travel period, our officers remain alert to tactics such as drug couriers and unaccompanied luggage. "This seizure is a clear result of strong intelligence, trusted partnerships, and frontline vigilance, and it sends a strong message to those seeking to exploit our border." Williams said everyone had a role to play in protecting New Zealand's border and communities from illegal drugs. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Khaleej Times
30-06-2025
- Khaleej Times
Wildlife smuggling attempt: Snakes on a plane bound for India, again
Indian customs officers in Mumbai said they have stopped a plane passenger arriving from Thailand with a wriggling cargo of live snakes, the third such seizure this month. "Customs officers... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes... seized from passenger returning from Thailand," said customs officers in the airport in the Indian financial hub. The passenger, who arrived on Sunday, has been arrested, the customs agency said in a statement, with "further investigation underway". The live snakes included reptiles often sold in the pet trade, and were largely non-venomous, or with venom too weak to affect people. They included garter snakes, a rhino rat snake and a Kenyan sand boa, among others. In early June, customs officers stopped a passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers, also arriving from Thailand. Days later, officers stopped another traveller carrying 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums. Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, has warned of a "very troubling" trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade. More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.
Al Arabiya
30-06-2025
- Al Arabiya
Live snakes found on a plane bound for India, customs officers say
Indian customs officers in Mumbai said they have stopped a plane passenger arriving from Thailand with a wriggling cargo of live snakes, the third such seizure this month. 'Customs officers... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes... seized from passenger returning from Thailand,' said customs officers in the airport in the Indian financial hub. The passenger, who arrived on Sunday, has been arrested, the customs agency said in a statement, with 'further investigation underway.' The live snakes included reptiles often sold in the pet trade, and were largely non-venomous, or with venom too weak to affect people. They included garter snakes, a rhino rat snake and a Kenyan sand boa, among others. In early June, customs officers stopped a passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers, also arriving from Thailand. Days later, officers stopped another traveler carrying 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums. Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, has warned of a 'very troubling' trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade. More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong wedding firm boss arrested as closure leaves couples in lurch
Customs officers have arrested the owner of a Hong Kong wedding decoration company that closed suddenly leaving more than 100 engaged couples in dismay, with the firm revealed to have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts. Acting assistant superintendent Ho Wai-sum of customs' unfair trade practice investigation division said officers arrested the 40-year-old male owner of a wedding decoration company based in San Po Kong on Friday after receiving 166 complaints about the firm allegedly wrongly accepting payments. 'We suspect that when the owner received prepaid sums, there were no reasonable reasons to believe the company could provide the services promised,' he said. Last month, the suspected closure of Ps Wedding and Event Decoration, which had an office in San Po Kong, sparked 31 complaints to the Consumer Council involving more than HK$337,000 (US$43,200) in losses. Ho revealed that the 166 complaints made to customs involved HK$1.9 million in total, with each contract for between HK$3,000 and HK$40,000. The acting superintendent said preliminary investigations showed that the company, which had been operating for 13 years, owed money for rent and salaries before its abrupt closure.
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Brit is arrested with a suitcase 'stuffed with £100,000 of cannabis' travelling from Bangkok to UK - the latest to be detained with drugs after leaving Thailand
A British man has been busted trying to smuggle a suitcase stuffed with cannabis from Bangkok to Newcastle as cops crack down on a fast-developing drug route from the Thai capital. The arrest took place at Vienna International Airport, a city airport on the outskirts of the Austrian capital on 27th May. The 31-year-old suspect was stopped during a transit stop on his way to Newcastle via Frankfurt and was led away in handcuffs to be locked up in preventive custody at the Korneuburg prison. Customs officers found 11.3 kilograms (24.9lb) of cannabis packed into 13 vacuum-sealed parcels concealed among clothes in the man's suitcase. The suitcase had been checked in at Bangkok and was labelled for onward travel to Frankfurt and Newcastle. Police said the street value of the cannabis was approximately €113,000 (£95,000). According to police, the man, who was not named, refused to confess and made no statement about the contents of the suitcase. Officials said the investigation is being led by the public prosecutor's office in Korneuburg. The arrest is part of a growing number of similar cases involving drug couriers flying out of Thailand. Just yesterday, it was revealed that a British couple who claimed to be tourists coming from Thailand were arrested at a Spanish airport with more than 33 kilograms of cannabis in their suitcases. The pair were remanded in custody after suspicious officers picked them out from other passengers arriving at Valencia Airport because of their 'nervous and evasive attitude.' The man and woman, aged 33 and 34 respectively, had arrived on a flight from France and were carrying two large pieces of luggage and said they had nothing to declare. But when the bags were checked with X-ray scanners, security staff discovered that they were carrying no clothing or personal belongings. The bags were instead packed with vacuum-sealed bags of a plant-based substance, which was taken to be tested and discovered to be cannabis. They were arrested late on May 5 and were hauled into court the next day, accused of drug trafficking. They were remanded in prison as the investigation continues, and are not expected to know for several months whether they will be formally indicted and face trial. Meanwhile, Eighteen-year-old Bella Culley, from Billingham, Teesside, was arrested in Georgia on May 11, alleged to have been caught trying to bring some £200,000 worth of cannabis and hashish into the country via the UAE after an apparent leisure trip to Thailand. Culley has yet to tell her lawyer how she came to be in possession of the narcotics. Soon after, it emerged that a British former cabin crew member, 21-year-old Charlotte May Lee, had been arrested in Sri Lanka, accused of trying to bring 46kg of cannabis into the country - again, from Thailand. The Mail revealed that Culley had told a source close to her legal case that she had flown to the South East Asian country 'for love', but has still 'said nothing about why she had the drugs'. Lee is understood to have travelled to Thailand for her birthday in April before stopping back in the U.K. She mentioned having found a 'job on a boat', but did not tell friends she was planning to return. How and why she ended up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, allegedly with bags of vacuum-packed cannabis, remains a mystery. Relatives say she, too, had made vague comments about meeting a man in Thailand, The Sun reports. She left Bangkok Airport within hours of Culley. Jemal Janashia, a former police general in Georgia and one of the country's top drug crime experts, told the Mail that local investigators will be keen to explore 'the possibility of a link' between the two cases. He hauntingly added: 'Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers'. 'The fact that two young British women have taken off with large quantities of drugs from the same airport will interest investigators,' Mr Janashia told the Mail. 'They will be concerned about the possibility of a link and that Thai gangs may be attempting to recruit vulnerable British travellers.'
