BANGKOK: A Malaysian fugitive, who was a major player in South-East Asia’s golden triangle of drugs, was arrested in a Thai-Laotian joint operation in Vientiane, Laos on Dec 29, said a top Thai police official.
The 41-year-old has been a key player in the golden triangle since 2006 and has worked with drug networks across Thailand, Malaysia, China, Singapore, and Laos, said Assistant National Police Chief Pol Lt-Gen Panurat Lakboon.
Police also seized the man’s extensive assets, which included a parcel of land with a building, two condominiums, three yachts, two cars, three motorbikes, firearms, cash, and other valuables, spread across Bangkok, Trat, Chiang Rai, and Chon Buri, Panurat said.
The total estimated value of the seized assets is 85 million baht (RM11.441mil).
“He also used Thailand for both money laundering and as a transit point for smuggling drugs, including to third countries like Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia,” said Panurat of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), according to Bernama.
“The arrest is a result of the continuous investigation and close coordination between the Thai, Malaysian, and Laotian enforcement agencies,” he said in a statement.
The main was also the main suspect behind a major drug bust in June last year – the seizure of 998kg of crystal methamphetamine and the arrest of seven suspects in Ratchaburi province.
An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for him in August of the same year.
Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, the Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) said that initial investigations revealed that the man is from Parit Buntar, Perak and is believed to also have ties to a drug syndicate in Malaysia.
“The police, in particular the NCID, will work together with the ONCB and Laos police in conducting follow-up investigations on this case,” said NCID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Kamarudin Md Din.
“ONCB has recommended to Laos police that the suspect be deported to Thailand because he has been blacklisted under Thailand’s drug offences act.”
