Nigerian Drug Network Foiled in Joint Chonburi-Pattaya Operation

In a coordinated action, Chonburi Immigration and Pattaya City Police apprehended two Nigerian men, identified as Amarachi and Ikenna, suspected of belonging to a major drug trafficking ring operating out of Bangkok, Thailand.

The arrests took place on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, in the Jomtien area following a sting operation where officers successfully purchased crystal meth (ice). Authorities confiscated a total of 33 grams of meth and 9 grams of cocaine, which had been hidden in cigarette packs and toothpaste containers.

During the apprehension, one of the suspects made an unsuccessful attempt to swallow small cocaine pellets to destroy the evidence, but police managed to retrieve the drugs from his mouth in time.

Pattaya police indicated that the pair is linked to a wider group of primarily Nigerian foreign nationals operating in the Nana Plaza area of Bangkok, using the mouth-concealment tactic to avoid detection. Both suspects had initially entered Thailand on tourist visas but had subsequently overstayed their permissions.

This operation follows a similar success on October 26, 2025, when the Bangkok Metropolitan Police and narcotics units, disguised as construction workers, raided the Sukhumvit 11 area in the Nana district. That pre-dawn raid dismantled a major cell of the same Nigerian-led transnational drug network, which authorities say is connected to the recent Chonburi arrests.

The Bangkok bust resulted in the capture of eight Nigerian nationals and one Thai accomplice, who were allegedly employing the “mouth-concealment method” to sell cocaine and crystal meth to visitors—a tactic identical to the one noted in Pattaya. The Bangkok raid yielded several grams of cocaine, transaction phones, and cash, revealing that overstaying visa holders had managed to evade detection for an extended period.

Information gathered from the Bangkok arrests was instrumental in leading officers to the suspects in Pattaya. Pol. Maj. Gen. Songprod Sirisukha, Commander of Immigration Division 3, praised the coordinated enforcement, asserting that authorities are committed to “relentlessly crack[ing] down on all forms of transnational crime” to ensure the safety of Pattaya and its international tourists.