PHUKET: An American arrested on Phuket this week and described as a ''leading drug lord'' across Asia has left on a charter plane for the US, police in Bangkok said today.
Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, was handed to agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, deputy national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told Associated Press.
Another five men - two Britons, a Slovak, a Filipino and a Tawainese - are being held by police in Thailand for now.
The six were flown to Bangkok from Phuket after a raid on Wednesday that was kept a closely-guarded secret. Even Phuket police and Phuket's administrators were not informed, according to the Khaosod newspaper.
Hunter rented a house on Phuket and travelled widely around the region. His alleged accomplices will be extradited as soon as court proceedings are complete.
The names of the other alleged gang members, who are all said to have had military training, have yet to be released.
Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, was handed to agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, deputy national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told Associated Press.
Another five men - two Britons, a Slovak, a Filipino and a Tawainese - are being held by police in Thailand for now.
The six were flown to Bangkok from Phuket after a raid on Wednesday that was kept a closely-guarded secret. Even Phuket police and Phuket's administrators were not informed, according to the Khaosod newspaper.
Hunter rented a house on Phuket and travelled widely around the region. His alleged accomplices will be extradited as soon as court proceedings are complete.
The names of the other alleged gang members, who are all said to have had military training, have yet to be released.
two Britons, a Slovak, a Filipino and a Tawainese
Extradition would mean that they have committed crimes in their home countries and have arrest warrants out for them. I'm not asking, but just wondering how they were allowed into this country in the first place. Thai immigration surely has a criminal database.
Posted by Pete on September 27, 2013 18:01
Editor Comment:
If the allegations are true, I wonder how many other criminal organisations, or international groups feeding illegal substances to the region, are based on Phuket. Time for house-to-house searches.