From Phuket: Aussie Couple’s Travel Nightmare on Marijuana Scam
An Aussie couple from Melbourne experienced the worst nightmare that travellers in Phuket can possibly experience.
The Aussie couple, whose real names were not divulged, fortunately escaped a trap for a fake arrest at Suvarnabhumi or Phuket airport for drug smuggling charges which could have left them snatched of a hefty amount of money.
According to reports, the couple was on their way to Phuket Island and had already reached Bangkok. They decided to leave their luggage in a hotel in the capital before touring around Bangkok for their much-awaited vacation.
Going back, they were told at the airport that their luggage was already overweight. The couple then inspected their bags and found that one of their bags had already lost its lock while another bag was slashed. The couple immediately felt something was odd.
The couple, now nervous of what they could possibly had gotten into, checked in at Novotel Suvarnabhumi and inspected their bags scrupulously. The couple then found marijuana in a small pocket inside one of the bags.
The couple then called the Australian embassy and asked for advice on what they should do in instances like this. A staff from the embassy instructed them to throw the bags away. The couple was also warned to be vigilant, as the people who set the trap might be following them. Furthermore, the embassy advised them to change their travel plans.
In an interview with 3AW, a local Melbourne radio station, one of the couple said that they heeded the embassy's advice.
"We spent two days in Bangkok washing all our clothes and changing our suitcases just to make sure we didn't have any more marijuana on us," said "Georgia."
They firmly believed that scheming people who posed as police officers were behind the marijuana scam and that they were still out there setting the same trap for future victims.
They do hope that other travelers learn from what they experienced.
"I do think it's about money more than anything else. We're just very lucky we didn't board that flight because who knows what could have happened to us if we did?," Georgia said during the interview.