PHUKET: Police on Phuket have arrested a Belgian man said to be the country's No. 1 wanted person, connected to illegal marijuana worth 25 million euros.
Patrick Marc Maurice Lagrou, 55, was apprehended by police in Tachatchai at 2.30pm yesterday after some neat detective work exposed the man's lies about his address.
Mr Lagrou took out a retirement visa in August but told Immigration he had an address on Phuket.
Immigration officers in Phang Nga, checking the database, discovered he actually had a big house in the town of Thai Muang, north of Phuket.
Mr Lagrou sent a lawyer along to Phuket Immigration to explain how his wrong address had been submitted in error.
When the Belgian ambassador sought help to make the arrest 15 days ago, the penny dropped.
Police went to the man's extensive property in Thai Muang, where he kept large dogs, and were told by a Burmese employee that his boss was on Phuket.
As Mr Lagrou returned from Phuket to Phang Nga, police nabbed him at the Tachatchai checkpoint. He was travelling in a minivan, converted so it could carry several dogs.
He arrived on Phuket on June 2 and received a retirement visa in August.
Mr Lagrou, who has a Thai wife, was being transferred to Bangkok today, with deportation likely to follow quickly.
Patrick Marc Maurice Lagrou, 55, was apprehended by police in Tachatchai at 2.30pm yesterday after some neat detective work exposed the man's lies about his address.
Mr Lagrou took out a retirement visa in August but told Immigration he had an address on Phuket.
Immigration officers in Phang Nga, checking the database, discovered he actually had a big house in the town of Thai Muang, north of Phuket.
Mr Lagrou sent a lawyer along to Phuket Immigration to explain how his wrong address had been submitted in error.
When the Belgian ambassador sought help to make the arrest 15 days ago, the penny dropped.
Police went to the man's extensive property in Thai Muang, where he kept large dogs, and were told by a Burmese employee that his boss was on Phuket.
As Mr Lagrou returned from Phuket to Phang Nga, police nabbed him at the Tachatchai checkpoint. He was travelling in a minivan, converted so it could carry several dogs.
He arrived on Phuket on June 2 and received a retirement visa in August.
Mr Lagrou, who has a Thai wife, was being transferred to Bangkok today, with deportation likely to follow quickly.
How Phuket immigration is able to provide a retirement visa to a criminal wanted by Interpol be on Belgium's No 1 wanted person?
Criminals in Thailand with laundering money can bought their freedom by bribing corrupt civil servants and they are legion of those foreign criminals and corrupt civil servants.
Posted by Whistle-Blower on November 9, 2014 14:59