Nigerian arrested in Thailand after police uncovered 10.21kg of her0in stuffed inside soap boxes in Bangkok. Here is everything we know so far.
Bangkok police have arrested a 48-year-old Nigerian man after they say they found about 10.21 kilograms of her0in hidden inside soap boxes in his car. His name is Danial Okeke. He was stopped on October 1 at the Ratchada-Tha Phra junction in Talat Phlu, Thon Buri, and police now say he also entered Thailand illegally.
It started like any other day on that busy junction.
Investigators from Talat Phlu Police Station were out with traffic officers, keeping an eye on the area for anything suspicious. Then a white Toyota Avanza with Bangkok plates pulled up. Okeke was driving. Police have not said exactly what made them look twice, only that something about the car did not sit right with them. Nigerian arrested in Thailand
So they walked over, told him who they were and searched the vehicle.
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In the car was a big suitcase, the hand luggage type people drag through airports. Inside it were soap boxes. Plenty of them. A popular brand too, the kind you would see on any supermarket shelf and never think about. But police say when they started tearing the boxes open, heroin wrapped in foil came out. One package in some boxes. Two or three in others. Nigerian arrested in Thailand
And they were still not done.
A carrier bag in the same car allegedly held another 70 packages of her0in, this time wrapped in plastic. When everything was weighed, it came to about 10.21kg. Officers also took the suitcase, two mobile phones and the Toyota itself.
Nigerian arrested in Thailand
Then they asked for his documents. There was no passport.
Okeke reportedly told the officers he lives at Soi Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok 28/1 in Prachathipat, Thanyaburi district, Pathum Thani. That is where the second charge came from. On top of the drvg case, the Nigerian arrested in Thailand is now accused of entering the country unlawfully as a foreigner. Nigerian arrested in Thailand
For now he has been charged with illegally selling her0in, a Category 1 narc0tic, for commercial purposes and in a way police say spreads the drvg among the public. These are allegations. Nothing has been proven in court yet. Nigerian arrested in Thailand
But anyone who knows how Thailand handles drvg cases knows this is not a small matter. Category 1 drvgs like her0in attract some of the toughest penalties in the country, and with a quantity this large, Okeke could be looking at a very long time behind bars if he is convicted.
The operation was ordered by Pol Col Jatuphum Mudsakhen, superintendent of Talat Phlu Police Station. He worked with two of his deputies, Pol Lt Col Kittisak Yimyaem, who handles investigations, and Pol Lt Col Phaithoon Upala, who handles traffic.
Okeke and everything taken from the car have now been handed over to Talat Phlu investigators. Police are also making it clear they do not think he was working alone. They say they are now looking into a wider drvg network that cuts across borders.
Back home, this one stings. Many Nigerians living abroad are doing honest work, studying, raising families and minding their business.
Then a story like this breaks and the green passport is in the headlines again for all the wrong reasons.
The NDLEA has warned Nigerians again and again about syndicates that dangle quick money in front of people and use them as couriers.
Some go in knowing. Some are tricked. Too many of them end up in foreign prisons, far from anyone who can help.
Thai police have not said how long Okeke had allegedly been in the country or who else could be tied to the drugs. The Nigerian Embassy in Bangkok has also not commented on the arrest yet.
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