Thai couple organized drug imports from inside prison

Piyaporn Paetmuangjan, 32, coordinated delivery of the drug, worth nearly 1 million New Zealand dollars (about 680,000 US dollars), and payment, after her partner, who was a prison inmate, had organized it, the Dominion Post reported.

Details of the operation were revealed at a court hearing on Thursday when Paetmuangjan pleaded guilty to 11 separate charges of importing nearly one kilogramme of methamphetamine between March and June.

The court was told that the drug deal had been set up by her partner, who has since been deported, using mobile telephones smuggled into the jail.

Paetmuangjan, who was said to have been in New Zealand illegally since June 2003, was told to expect a lengthy prison term when she is sentenced next month.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur