Thailand: Suspected Lao Drug Kingpin
Pleads Not Guilty to Smuggling Charges
A Laotian man described as a major
drug lord in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia pleaded not guilty
Tuesday in a Bangkok court to charges that could carry the death penalty,
including smuggling and possession.
Xaysana Keopimpha, 41, had been dubbed
an "ASEAN Drug Lord" and Thai authorities said he headed a network
that supplied caffeine-laced methamphetamine tablets known as "yaba,"
which were produced in Myanmar, throughout the Mekong River region.
Xaysana's Thai lawyer, Vorakorn
Pongthanakul on Tuesday promised a strong defense of his client that would
include challenging an earlier confession. Vorakorn said his client confessed
to a police investigator because while Thai and Lao are similar languages,
Xaysana does not understand it or the country's laws.
The lawyer said his client was
worried because he had never been convicted of any crime. As for possible bail,
family members in Laos are going to decide whether to apply.
"Now Xaysana is indicted and is
becoming a defendant ... he and I, as his lawyer, agreed that he would plead
innocent and we will fight all the charges," Vorakorn said following the
arraignment in Bangkok North Criminal Court. "I felt somewhat heavyhearted
because the charges carry the death penalty."
The last execution in Thailand for
any crime was in 2009.
Xaysana was arrested Jan. 19 at
Bangkok's Suvahnbhumi Airport following a five-year investigation and a tip
from Laos officials, according to Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, who heads the
Thai police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
A Malaysian suspect who was arrested
by police in Malaysia in February, Kamarudin Bin Awang, was a trade partner of
Xaysana, Thailand's counter-narcotics chief said back then, Sommai said at the
time.
Assets seized
Xaysana led a flamboyant lifestyle
prior to his arrest, hanging out with Thai celebrities and a soap opera star,
according to reports. Lao authorities seized his assets including nine luxury
vehicles, five houses and a 475-acre rubber plantation.
Following his January arrest, Sommaly
Thammavong, the daughter-in-law of former Lao Prime Minister Thongsing
Thammavong distanced herself from rumored ties, saying that a photo showing her
and Thammavong's son with Xaysana was? taken "by accident."
The photo that circulated widely on
Facebook shows only a casual social connection among the three, Sommaly
Thammavong said at the time.
"We have not done any business
with him, and we didn't know what he was involved in," she said.
Arrest details
The Golden Triangle which straddles
Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, was notorious for opium and heroin, but recently
methamphetamine overtook production in the region, mostly in Myanmar and to a
lesser degree in Laos. Police officials allege that Xaysana himself distributed
the drug in Thailand and had a network of dealers peddling yaba in other
countries.
Thai police in 2016 captured four
members of Xaysana's alleged drug network, seizing more than 5 million yaba
pills, officials told reporters on Jan. 20, the day after they captured the
alleged kingpin. Police arrested Xaysana and three associates after they
arrived in Bangkok following a visit to the southern Thai resort town of
Phuket.
During that press conference, Sommai
thanked Lao law-enforcement authorities for providing information that helped
lead to the arrest.
"Lao authorities said to us that
if we couldn't arrest him here, they wouldn't be able to do anything in
Laos," Sommai said.
"Xaysana has enormous assets in
Laos," he said, adding, "I don't know what's going on over
there."
Thailand: Suspected Lao Drug Kingpin
Pleads Not Guilty to Smuggling Charges
A Laotian man described as a major
drug lord in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia pleaded not guilty
Tuesday in a Bangkok court to charges that could carry the death penalty,
including smuggling and possession.
Xaysana Keopimpha, 41, had been dubbed
an "ASEAN Drug Lord" and Thai authorities said he headed a network
that supplied caffeine-laced methamphetamine tablets known as "yaba,"
which were produced in Myanmar, throughout the Mekong River region.
Xaysana's Thai lawyer, Vorakorn
Pongthanakul on Tuesday promised a strong defense of his client that would
include challenging an earlier confession. Vorakorn said his client confessed
to a police investigator because while Thai and Lao are similar languages,
Xaysana does not understand it or the country's laws.
The lawyer said his client was
worried because he had never been convicted of any crime. As for possible bail,
family members in Laos are going to decide whether to apply.
"Now Xaysana is indicted and is
becoming a defendant ... he and I, as his lawyer, agreed that he would plead
innocent and we will fight all the charges," Vorakorn said following the
arraignment in Bangkok North Criminal Court. "I felt somewhat heavyhearted
because the charges carry the death penalty."
The last execution in Thailand for
any crime was in 2009.
Xaysana was arrested Jan. 19 at
Bangkok's Suvahnbhumi Airport following a five-year investigation and a tip
from Laos officials, according to Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, who heads the
Thai police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
A Malaysian suspect who was arrested
by police in Malaysia in February, Kamarudin Bin Awang, was a trade partner of
Xaysana, Thailand's counter-narcotics chief said back then, Sommai said at the
time.
Assets seized
Xaysana led a flamboyant lifestyle
prior to his arrest, hanging out with Thai celebrities and a soap opera star,
according to reports. Lao authorities seized his assets including nine luxury
vehicles, five houses and a 475-acre rubber plantation.
Following his January arrest, Sommaly
Thammavong, the daughter-in-law of former Lao Prime Minister Thongsing
Thammavong distanced herself from rumored ties, saying that a photo showing her
and Thammavong's son with Xaysana was? taken "by accident."
The photo that circulated widely on
Facebook shows only a casual social connection among the three, Sommaly
Thammavong said at the time.
"We have not done any business
with him, and we didn't know what he was involved in," she said.
Arrest details
The Golden Triangle which straddles
Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, was notorious for opium and heroin, but recently
methamphetamine overtook production in the region, mostly in Myanmar and to a
lesser degree in Laos. Police officials allege that Xaysana himself distributed
the drug in Thailand and had a network of dealers peddling yaba in other
countries.
Thai police in 2016 captured four
members of Xaysana's alleged drug network, seizing more than 5 million yaba
pills, officials told reporters on Jan. 20, the day after they captured the
alleged kingpin. Police arrested Xaysana and three associates after they
arrived in Bangkok following a visit to the southern Thai resort town of
Phuket.
During that press conference, Sommai
thanked Lao law-enforcement authorities for providing information that helped
lead to the arrest.
"Lao authorities said to us that
if we couldn't arrest him here, they wouldn't be able to do anything in
Laos," Sommai said.
"Xaysana has enormous assets in
Laos," he said, adding, "I don't know what's going on over
there."
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