American and Australian implicated in 2015 Pattaya murder arrested again on international drugs warrant

[webfact]

American and Australian implicated in 2015 Pattaya murder arrested again on international drugs warrant

 

Image: Luke Cook, left. Tyler Gerrard, right - Daily News.

 

Police in Pattaya have arrested a 23 year old American man on an international drugs warrant.

 

Tyler Gerrard was charged two years ago in the abduction and murder of Wayne Schneider. Murder charges were dismissed by the court but he was sentenced to two years jail for playing a part in the unlawful detention of Schneider.

 

He was released from custody after about a year in December 2016 and then rearrested on other matters by Bang Lamung police.

 

Daily news reported that yesterday a team of police headed by Songprot Sirisukha of Chonburi immigration and Piyapong Ensarn of Pattaya tourist police arrested Gerrard and took him in on Monday.

 

His mother and father arrived at Chonburi immigration. The Thai news media reported that his mother was in a tearful state while Gerrard remained cool and calm.

 

Wayne Schneider, an Australian, was abducted from his rental home in Jomtien Park Villa, Soi 17 Thepprasit, South Pattaya, towards the end of 2015. He was found buried shortly after in a grave off a road in Sattahip.

 

Antonio Bagnato, also from Australia, was later convicted of his murder.

 

Daily News said that disagreements over drugs led to the murder.

 

Police in Pattaya arrested several members of the Hells Angels biker gang last week in what Australian media said was connected to the murder of Schneider.

 

Thai police are calling the latest arrest a matter of national security.

 

The news comes after Australian Luke Cook, another known associate of Antonio Bagnato, was arrested on Saturday evening at Suvarnabhumi airport after arriving on flight from Australia with his Thai wife.

 

The pair were arrested on warrants issued from Rayong Provincial court for drug smuggling after 50.45kg of crystal methamphetamine was found washed ashore on Mae Ramphueng in Rayong, the Bangkok Post reported.

 

Police said that Cook was a member of Hells Angels in Pattay and had purchased some 500kg of crystal meth from a Chinese supplier in international waters. 

 

In the trial last year of the murder of Wayne Schneider it was revealed that Cook drove murderer Bagnato to the Cambodian border. Tyler Gerrard was also in the vehicle. 

 

In 2016, Pattaya Court sentenced Cook to three months in jail, suspended for two years for aiding Bagnato.

 

Cook had also operated a number of businesses in Pattaya including one called Global Marine Solutions, which imports boats and marine parts to Thailand from around the world. Cook is also understood to have more than twenty years sailing experience.

 

Thaivisa understands Cook and his wife also operated Jolly's restaurant, bar and massage shop located in Soi Buakhao, Pattaya.
 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-12-12

[NanLaew]

Give them enough rope...

[George Bowman]

National security threat?

[steven100]

Lock em up ....   good job BIB   !!  

[ezzra]

What boggle the minds apart from the fact that Pattaya has become the cesspool of the world is that those criminals, arrested, tried and sent to jail are not deported and they, and their ilk are free to come and go into this country at will while another guy, who has worked with no WP or god forbid, over stayed their visa, are deported and blacklisted,

so i ask you, is someone sleeping on the job here or what?....    

[Get Real]

57 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Lock em up ....   good job BIB   !!  

and throw away the keys.

[thaifan01]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

What boggle the minds apart from the fact that Pattaya has become the cecspool of the world is that those criminlas, areeted, tried and sent to jail are not deported and they, and their ilk are free to come and  go into this country at will while another guy, who has worked with no WP or god forbid, over stayed their visa, are deported and blacklisted, so i ask you, is someone sleeping on the job here or what?....    

It's called corruption, bribes, tea money etc. Dear child has many names as you know

[dutchweller]

Luke Cook  waring a Offshore Campaign Polo shirt....

[Easy Come Easy Go]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if a foreigner serves time in a Thai prison, when they are released they must leave the Kingdom for good? 

[sanemax]

4 minutes ago, Easy Come Easy Go said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if a foreigner serves time in a Thai prison, when they are released they must leave the Kingdom for good? 

Only its its six months in jail or  longer and if the authorities decide too 

Could be if the Judge recommends deportation in the sentencing ?

[bananafish]

He's lucky he wasn't caught with an e-cigarette, then he'd really be in trouble. 

[Aussieroaming]

My father always told me to make good choices in life, never marry a woman older than you and never take drugs, maybe he was right.

[Colabamumbai]

They would not let me board the warship in Sattahip. I was told that being a foreigner I was a threat to national security. My Thai family was allowed.

[r136dg]

10 minutes ago, bananafish said:

He's lucky he wasn't caught with an e-cigarette, then he'd really be in trouble. 

Or a regular cigarette on the beach. 

Hard time.

[ronrat]

Not surprised if they owned Jollys. Went there once on recommendations from a few never to be listened again to people. I ordered Ploughmans Lunch and when it arrived I queried where the bread, cheese and pickles were I was told I had to pay extra as not part of normal lunch. Maybe I should have ordered some yabba and a few spliffs.

[malibukid]

looks like a real dumb S&^%

[balo]

His parents must have been in town on holiday. They were up for a surprise, maybe they believed he was the perfect son and not a hard core criminal.

[catman20]

WHATS wrong with these people ?????????? they both had 1 lucky escape each. words fail me.

[csabo]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

 is someone sleeping on the job here or what?....    

Sleeping on mattress made of money is more like it. 

[farcanell]

40 minutes ago, catman20 said:

WHATS wrong with these people ?????????? they both had 1 lucky escape each. words fail me.

Exactly.... personally I would have gotten my ass out of Thailand as quickly as I could carry it to the airport.

perhaps you can’t cure stupidity.... but you can certainly lock it away in a jail cell

[wvavin]

Wait for Trump's visit and he would get a parole.

[snoop1130]

Couple arrested over alleged bid to smuggle huge batch of crystal meth

By Suriya Patathayo 
The Nation

 

 

Police have arrested an Australian man – believed to be a member of the Hells Angels gang in Pattaya – and his Thai female accomplice over an alleged attempt to smuggle a large batch of crystal methamphetamine into Thailand.

 

Assets worth Bt30 million have been seized from the couple, senior police told a press conference in Bangkok on Tuesday. 

Luke Joshua Cook, 34, and Kanyarat Wechapitak, 40, were arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Sunday. 

 

Following their detention, police raided nine properties in Pattaya and Bangkok and seized assets worth Bt30 million, including five luxury cars and motorcycles, cash and three properties in Pattaya.

 

A third suspect, American Tyler Joseph Fulton Sheen Gerard, 23, was previously sentenced to two years in jail over his involvement in the abduction and murder of Australian national Wayne Schneider, 37, in December 2015, police said. 

 

Cook was last year sentenced to three months in jail, which was suspended for two years, for helping Australian kick-boxer and businessman Antonio Bagnato flee Thailand to Cambodia after he murdered Schneider.

 

This drug case against Cook stems from the discovery of 50.45 kilograms of methamphetamine which was allegedly part of a batch that washed ashore in Rayong's Mae Rampeung Beach on June 22, 2015, said Pol Lt-General Weerapong Cheunpakdee, director of the centre for suppression of trans-national crime and illegal entry. 

 

A police investigation led to Cook and Kanyarat who operated a boat sales and rental business under Global Marine Solution Co, Weerapong said.

 

Police alleged that Schneider, who was looking for a business investment in Pattaya in 2015, had entrusted Cook with $10 million to buy and transport 500 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine to be stored in Thailand pending transport to Australia. 

 

After Cook allegedly bought the drug from a Chinese supplier in international waters on June 22, 2015, he encountered a Thai patrol ship on the return journey and dumped some of the drugs into the sea, Weerapong said. 

 

Later that day, four sacks holding 50.45 kilograms of the drug, washed ashore. 

 

After gathering evidence against Cook, police were granted a court-issued arrest warrant for Cook on a charge of drug smuggling. 

 

Weeapong said Schneider allegedly demanded that Cook repay the money after the drugs were lost. However, he was later abducted and killed. 

 

Police found that Cook, Kanyarat and Gerard were allegedly involved in a transnational drug trafficking and other crimes, Weerapong said.

 

The arrest of Cook and Kanyarat followed the arrest last week of three Australians and a Canadian, also believed to be Hells Angels members, aged between 32 and 42. Guns, ammunition, knives, an Audi sports car and a Ford GT 315 car were seized after their arrest in Pattaya. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30333775

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-12

[Lupatria]

Good to know that no Thai gave them a helping hand.

[wombat]

 'crystal methamphetamine was found washed ashore'

 

i don't understand?

[balo]

Good guys in , bad guys out. Especially any member of Hells Angels. 

 

[wombat]

10 hours ago, missoura said:

National security threat?

the other 449kg being washed?

 

[sambum]

57 minutes ago, wombat said:

 'crystal methamphetamine was found washed ashore'

 

i don't understand?

Sorry, but can you not read?

 

"After Cook allegedly bought the drug from a Chinese supplier in international waters on June 22, 2015, he encountered a Thai patrol ship on the return journey and dumped some of the drugs into the sea, Weerapong said. 

Later that day, four sacks holding 50.45 kilograms of the drug, washed ashore." 

[Just Weird]

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

What boggle the minds apart from the fact that Pattaya has become the cesspool of the world is that those criminals, arrested, tried and sent to jail are not deported and they, and their ilk are free to come and go into this country at will while another guy, who has worked with no WP or god forbid, over stayed their visa, are deported and blacklisted,

so i ask you, is someone sleeping on the job here or what?....    

A 3 month suspended sentence does not qualify for deportation and the American was re-arrested on his release from the first sentence, perhaps he was still here because of ongoing police interest in him.

[Media1]

11 hours ago, missoura said:

National security threat?

Yeah it's just poor education. Give them a break. There good for a giggle

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, flexomike said:

Have to know the right people, I was let on and treated to a first class tour with lunch

Oh, jolly good, first class, eh, and lunch?  What ho!

Edited December 12, 2017 by Just Weird