At least 11 French nationals have been held since the start of the summer after being arrested with several kilogrammes of cannabis in their luggage, a police source said.
According to French media accounts from relatives of some of the young people, they might have been duped by traffickers to act as drug mules in exchange for free holidays in Thailand.
In recent years, cannabis trafficking from Thailand to France has surged, particularly since Thailand decriminalised the drug in 2022, French officials say.
“The situation of our fellow citizens is being closely monitored by the relevant departments of the foreign ministry in Paris, which are in contact with their families,” a diplomatic source said.
“Consular services in Thailand and Hong Kong have been mobilised,” the source added.
According to French daily Liberation, the holiday offer allegedly came from the manager of a smartphone trading company.
According to relatives of some of the young people, the French nationals were unaware of the suitcases’ actual contents.
The daily identified at least five young people aged 18 to 26 who were arrested at airports in Thailand and Hong Kong.
News agency AFP spoke to a woman whose 20-year-old brother-in-law was arrested in mid-July as he was preparing to travel from Thailand to Paris with another Frenchman.
In their locked suitcase, for which they did not have the combination, customs officers discovered “16.8kg of cannabis”.
“They were shocked. They really weren’t expecting it,” the woman said.
She said he was contacted through Snapchat by someone who claimed the courier run was “100 percent legal” and involved transporting phones.
“He was the victim of a ‘Thailand plan.’ He was snared,” she added.
The French prosecutor’s office tasked with combating drug crime said investigations were under way. — AFP
