A British drug trafficker convicted over a £1million ($1.3million) narcotics ring has been arrested in Thailand after years on the run, police said on Tuesday, in the latest example of global underworld figures using the kingdom as a bolthole.
Jonathon Moorby, 47, was detained by Thai police on the popular southern tourist island of Koh Samui on Monday following an investigation by British detectives.
The fugitive, nicknamed ‘Mr Big’, has a string of previous drug offences to his name but went on the run in 2014 shortly before an English court sentenced him to 15 years in jail in absentia for conspiracy to supply more than £1million of cocaine and amphetamines.
At the time, prosecutors ordered him to repay £575,680 ($745,000) under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
But after fleeing to Ko Samui, Thailand, the twisted crime boss is alleged to have laundered money and organised arson attacks on his estranged wife.
Thai police said they charged Moorby with possession of a fake passport and illegal entry into Thailand before he is deported to Britain.
Pol Maj Gen Apichart Boonsriroj said police seized a fake passport that identified Moorby as a Belgian citizen under the name Goossens Wouters.
‘We were asked by the British embassy’s Interpol representative to arrest the suspect,’ Major General Soontorn Chalermkiat of Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Police, told reporters.
‘He is a key drugs trafficking suspect in Britian, dealing in cocaine and ice (crystal methamphetamine),’ he said.
British prosecutors described Moorby, originally from Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, as a major drugs kingpin in the country’s northeast, according to British media that covered the trial.
Teesside Crown Court confirmed to the Bangkok Post that it has had a warrant out for Moorby’s arrest since December 2014.
Police found out that Moorby was staying in Koh Samui when they received a tipoff that his son would travel to Thailand to visit him.
Police followed the son to Thailand, which led them to a rented hotel room in which Moorby was staying.
But when the son arrived, Moorby wasn’t in the hotel and police found out that the drug kingpin had rented a boat to travel to nearby Koh Mudsum, where he was later arrested.
Thailand has long been a favoured destination for wanted criminals from across the world, something the police have vowed to end, adopting the official slogan: ‘Good guys in, bad guys out.’
While they have had some notable successes, western law enforcement officials say high levels of official corruption and weak local law enforcement continue to make the country an attractive bolthole.
The country is also a major trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, the world’s second largest drug producing region after Latin America.
Huge quantities of heroin and methamphetamine are produced in the triangle – the border regions of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and southwestern China – with record seizures across Asia having little effect on supply or street prices.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.