Japanese tourist in Thailand lured by travel freebies into smuggling meth

...offered free getaways to Thailand, Shanghai and Frankfurt, complete with thousands in spending money

Darwin's law.

Good job he went to the embassy first otherwise the BIB would have had their share too.....!

If the deal's too good to be true, chances are there's a catch - and its usually not good. Receiving a suitcase that wasn't packed in front of you should raise a red flag from a mile off

I wonder what the penalty for drug smuggling is in Thailand?

I wonder what the penalty for drug smuggling is in Thailand?

Dead? Life in prison? At least nothing pretty.

I wonder what the penalty for drug smuggling is in Thailand?

Not as harsh as China...

But after arriving in Thailand last week, he was handed "suspicious" luggage for his next trip to Shanghai

Yeah, arrest the Iranian and slap some sense into that Japanese guy. Lesson #1: If something on the Internet seems too good to be true, it always is!

Surely in this day and age nobody could be so stupid-----though they say there's one born every minute.

Credit to the tourist for noticing that something was wrong with the clothes and contacting the embassy. Glad they caught the Iranian middleman.

"Demand for meth is surging in the region"

That nasty stuff is highly addictive.

I guess the Iranian was expecting that anyone naive enough to fall for the deal in the first place would take the luggage with no questions asked. Thankfully that wasn't the case because there is no way this guy would've gotten out of China.

So who was waiting at the other end in China?

Surely in this day and age nobody could be so stupid-----though they say there's one born every minute.

I'm not getting it - what did this guy do that was stupid? Seems like he did the right thing on the contrary, particularly the part about going to the embassy rather than the police. I wonder if he also got to keep the money.

I'm not getting it - what did this guy do that was stupid? 

believing that this had no strings attached:

found the deal on a travel website that offered free getaways to Thailand, Shanghai and Frankfurt, complete with thousands in spending money.

instead of being too good to be true. you're right in that he acted accordingly after twigging

Smart and not ignorant or greedy. Good job.

Relieved to hear the guy went to the Embassy and wasn't caught moving across borders with the drugs. Would have been completely his fault if caught as such, but as it is, he was a little smarter in the end than when he took the deal to begin with. So, he got a couple of days in Thailand and a story to tell.

Why are Iranians involved in drug traffics? I remember Iranians being caught for selling drugs in Japan. What do Islam think of drugs? Do they make drugs in Iran? Do they buy from Afghanistan or elsewhere?

Great job done by the Japanese citizen. Thailand should do more to prevent tourist from becoming pray.

Yakuza distribute meth in Japan heavily actually

I wonder what the penalty for drug smuggling is in Thailand?

It is not death.

believing that this had no strings attached:

But he didn't believe it, or he wouldn't have gone to the embassy.

So I'm still not clear, this guy apparently did something stupid, but seeing as nothing bad happened to him, and he may have even made some money off it, I'm not seeing where he did anything stupid.

Why are Iranians involved in drug traffics? I remember Iranians being caught for selling drugs in Japan. What do Islam think of drugs?

This may come as a surprise, but not everyone who is born into a religion believes or follows its tenets.

But he didn't believe it, or he wouldn't have gone to the embassy.

according to the article, he did believe in the freebies at first, and that's why he traveled to Thailand. otherwise there wouldn't have been this incident or article:

using travel freebies to lure an unsuspecting Japanese tourist

keyword: unsuspecting

"Inside the bag, he found clothes that felt more solid than usual

good thing he still had some wits and senses with him

Why are Iranians involved in drug traffics? I remember Iranians being caught for selling drugs in Japan. What do Islam think of drugs? Do they make drugs in Iran? Do they buy from Afghanistan or elsewhere?

Why do Australians, Japanese, Chinese, or any other nationality engage in drug trading? Out of greed! Some groups do it out of a need to finance their activities; FARC in Columbia. It’s not just the domain of certain nationalities or religious groups. Baiting somewhat? Luckily the guy had enough smarts to go to the embassy first, though he wasn’t to smart in accepting free trips.

Itthipol Itthisarnronnachai, deputy chief of Thailand's immigration department

Try saying his name 3 times fast.

With that being said, I wonder if the Japanese man will be protected because he got the other guy arrested. I hope he gets to leave the country ASAP and come back to Japan safely.

"It's a never-seen-before method, luring tourists to traffic drugs out of the country,"

It's not new: there's a TV series called "Banged up abroad" which features these kind of stories. The Japanese man will have to worry about the gangsters coming after him to collect the money he has cost them.

SMART of the tourist to go to the Embassy for guidance and good job to all involved arresting the drug dealer who tried to take advantage of the tourist. I hope the dealer ROTS in prison.