Backlash after Thailand frees 85-year-old drug trafficker
Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat ordered a review after backlash over a pardon that freed Laota Saenlee after less than 10 years.
- On Friday, convicted drug trafficker Laota Saenlee was released from a maximum-security prison near Bangkok after royal pardons reduced his life sentence to below the nearly 10 years he served.
- Laota, a former anti-communist Kuomintang guerrilla, operated as a drug runner within the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet.
- Former narcotics police chief Rewat Klinkesorn condemned the release, saying he was "shocked that a major drugs dealer was released so early" and arguing the corrections department should improve its regulations.
- Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat ordered the corrections department on Tuesday to clarify the pardon, acknowledging that while officials followed criteria, "there are some flaws in the criteria."
- Thailand has initiated a formal review of pardon criteria following public backlash over the release of the 85-year-old former drug trafficker.
10 Articles
10 Articles
Release of drug trafficker, 85, sparks backlash in Thailand
BANGKOK — Thailand’s justice minister pledged on Tuesday to review pardon criteria following backlash over the release of an 85-year-old drug trafficker who served less than a decade of a life-in-prison sentence.
The Minister of Justice of Thailand, Rutthapon Naowarat, undertook on Tuesday to review the criteria for granting pardons after the release of 85-year-old Laota Seanlee, sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking. Considered one of the main names of drug trafficking in Southeast Asia, he left a maximum security prison on Friday after a series of real pardons reduce his sentence to less than 10 years.
Malay Mail
AlKhaleej TodayOutrage over 85-year-old ex-drug kingpin’s release prompts Thailand pardon review
BANGKOK, Aug 18 — Thailand’s justice minister pledged on Tuesday to review pardon criteria following backlash over the release of an 85-year-old drug trafficker who served less than a decade of a life prison sentence.Laota Saenlee, a former anti-communist guerrilla turned drug runner linked to powerful Myanmar drug kingpins, was arrested by undercover officers in 2016 for selling crystal meth in the Golden Triangle drug-producing region.The rugg…
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