Thailand | British tourist, 23, faces death penalty for cross-smuggling 9kg of crystal meth for network

George Wilson, 23, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, is said to have received 9.15kg of methamphetamine from another Briton at a hotel in the red-light area of Bangkok on Monday evening.

But vice squad cops are said to have been tipped off about the movements of the drugs gang. Officers swooped on the hotel room at Le Fenix on Sukhumvit Soi 11 and arrested George.

In the arrest video, George was heard telling police he had been in Thailand for 'two weeks'. When asked what is in the bag, he says 'I don't know'.

However, officers then open the case and look under a pair of flip-flops and a white towel to uncover 10 green foil bags of Chinese tea concealing methamphetamine.

'I don't know what it is,' George says again.

Shocked officers open the packages to reveal the drugs on camera before performing a quick chemical test to prove it is methamphetamine.

The British tourist has been held in custody and will appear at court on October 1. He appears to be the latest British tourist to be accused of smuggling drugs out of Thailand. 

Speaking today, Lieutenant Colonel Noppha Thongbo, from the Lumpini district station, said: 'The suspect's full name is George Henry Allaway Wilson, born on 29 July, 2002, from High Wycombe.

'He was arrested on September 29 at 6pm. He is currently in police custody and will be taken to the Bangkok South Criminal Court tomorrow for detention in prison.'

George allegedly told police that he received the meth in a pink suitcase from a British drugs runner named 'Snoopy'. He allegedly received £460 GBP for his role in the chain.

He was due to carry the narcotics through Thailand's Suvarnabhumi International Airport and onto the destination country, where another gang members was due to meet him.

But officers said they had been tracking the suspects for a number of days following intelligence gathered from their movements.

They checked CCTV footage at the hotel and confirmed that the packages had been delivered. An arrest warrant was then obtained from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) to search the hotel room.

Cops allegedly found 9,152.3 grams of crystal methamphetamine, known locally as 'Ice', packaged in foil bags used for tea.

Officers said the meth is suspected to have been produced at drugs labs in civil-war ravaged Myanmar before arriving in Thailand - a notorious transit hub for illegal activities.

Colonel Siranawitcha Intorn, Superintendent of the Crime Suppression Division, Metropolitan Police Bureau Division 5, said: 'George Wilson has been charged with distributing Category 1 narcotics, specifically methamphetamine or ice, with intent to sell in violation of the law, which constitutes a commercial act that contributes to the spread of the drug among the public.

'We believe he was part of a cross-border drug smuggling network, which is very serious. The amount of drugs seized was also very large. The highest levels of the Royal Thai Police have coordinated to make the arrest.'

Under Thai law, Category 1 narcotics includes heroin, methamphetamine, and other synthetic drugs.

Importing or exporting the substances carries a maximum punishment of the death penalty - though rarely used - followed by life in prison. Mitigating factors may help the sentence to be reduced to no less than 10 to 20 years.

Lieutenant Colonel Pongtanin Bamrungsuksawat, the Deputy Chief of the Detective Division, Metropolitan Police Division 5, said he acted as an interpreter during the arrest.

He said: 'I spoke English with the suspect. He confirmed that the items were his. The charges were explained to him along with his rights and he was handcuffed and taken into custody for legal processing.'

Just last month, a teenage drugs mule who was caught with £420,000 worth of cannabis in her luggage after being given an all-expenses paid trip to Thailand was jailed.

Erihanna Sackor, 19, was caught red-handed at Heathrow Airport on June 2 with 14kg of the Class B drug which had been vacuum-sealed and stuffed in her suitcase.

The teenage hospitality worker, who was thwarted while walking through the green channel of customs, initially told Border Force officials that the luggage did not belong to her.

Thailand has become a notorious hub for drug production and trafficking. In the north of the country, the ‘Golden Triangle' area shares borders with Laos and Myanmar, and has produced large amounts of opium since the 1950s but focus in recent years has shifted to the more profitable methamphetamine.

Officials believe most of the meth is produced in the Shan State of Myanmar before being distributed through neighbouring countries where prices are higher before ending up in the most expensive markets of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

However, cracking down on drug production has been complicated by the influx of crime gangs from China and the Burmese civil war, which has seen the army take over the country - along with control of lucrative drugs chains.

Source: Mail Online, Perkin Amaralaj, September 30, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde