Vietnamese woman arrested in Nakhon Phanom with 22kg of ivory pieces
A Vietnamese woman was arrested in Nakhon Phanom Sunday evening for allegedly smuggling 22 kilogrammes of cut ivory pieces and ivory ornaments from Laos.
Naratpol Lertrachataprapat, chief of the Nakhon Phanom customs office, said Than Vien Ki Than (not the official spelling), 43, was arrested after customs officials found the 930 ivory pieces in a bag in the luggage compartment.
Officials were conducting a routine check of the bus and the travel documents of passengers at the the Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge's border checkpoint in Nakhon Phanom's Muang district when the discovery was made.
The woman claimed she was given Bt2,000 just before she boarded the bus from Laos to take the bag to an unknown recipient at the Nakhon Phanom bus terminal.
