Three Brazilians are detained in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, after being caught with 15.5 kilos of cocaine when they disembarked at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, according to the government. According to local media, the drug is valued at 46.5 million bahtes, or R$7.4 million.
The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it “follows up the situation and provides all appropriate assistance to nationals, in accordance with current international treaties and local legislation.” The report asked what type of assistance is provided, whether there is information about the safety of Brazilians and whether families have access to prisoners, but the Itamaraty did not respond.
The Brazilians were arrested on the 14th. According to the Thai government, on Monday of last week, around 7 am, authorities discovered 9 kilos of cocaine hidden in secret compartments of three suitcases. The luggage belonged to a Brazilian couple, a 22-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, coming from Curitiba on a Qatar Airways flight, who were arrested while undergoing an airport x-ray, as announced.
Later, around 1 pm the same day, another 24-year-old Brazilian was arrested with 6.5 kilos of cocaine hidden in his suitcase, customs says. The government suspects that the three are part of the same group because the drug was hidden in the same way.
One of the arrested boys was identified as Jordi Vilsinski Beffa, 24, resident of Apucarana (PR), 365 kilometers northwest of Curitiba. Beffa would be the man who arrived in the country in the early afternoon. The report could not find a defense for him.
The woman who is part of the arrested group is Mary Helen Coelho Silva, 22, who lives in Pouso Alegre (MG), 390 kilometers from Belo Horizonte. The Brazilian’s family did not respond to the report’s attempts to contact her.
To the news portal G1, her sister, Mariana, said that Mary Helen told the family that she would travel to Curitiba to find a boyfriend. She claims that she only learned of her sister’s involvement with drugs when she received an audio message from Mary Helen asking her to contact a lawyer to attempt extradition to Brazil.
“I’ll give you Dr. Edson’s contact. Please, call him. Tell him to do something. Tell him to send us to Brazil, so we can respond there”, says the message.
The family told the portal that Mary Helen worked at a steakhouse in Pouso Alegre and that she resigned a few days earlier to travel to Curitiba.
There is still no information on the identity of the other man arrested.
Thailand, as well as other Southeast Asian countries, has severe penalties for drug trafficking, up to the death penalty. The country is neighboring Indonesia, where, in 2015, two Brazilians were executed after more than a decade in prison for trafficking.
Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira has been in prison since 2003, when he was caught trying to enter the country with 13 kilos of cocaine hidden in the structure of a hang glider – he still managed to escape at the time of the act, but was captured two weeks later. On January 18, 2015, he was executed by firing squad in a prison 400 kilometers from the capital, Jakarta.
Months later, on April 28, Rodrigo Gularte, arrested since 2004 for trying to enter Indonesia with 6 kilos of cocaine hidden in surfboards, was also executed by firing squad.
Despite the two deaths in a short period, the procedure is not common – they were the first Brazilians executed abroad on record.
