Reformed drug dealer turned foundation worker had his head "wrapped in plastic"

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

A post on the page of the Zendai foundation is being widely shared and commented upon by Thai netizens, reported Daily News.

 

It features a man who was sentenced to death in a drugs case and who, during an "expanding of the enquiry", had his head wrapped in plastic. 

 

Last month this illegal torture practice led to the death of a drug suspect in Nakhon Sawan and the subsequent arrest of seven police officers including the now infamous "Joe Ferrari".

 

Zendai's story concerned a man they called "Mamud" who is now 41 and works for them helping Covid-19 patients. 

 

He grew up in Ratchathewi in crowded and poor conditions but turned to the dark side of drug dealing around the age of 19.

 

For a few years he was driving a BMW 525 but his life came crashing down at the age of 22.

 

He was caught with 4,000 Ecstasy tablets, 3,000 bottles of Katamine, a quantity of "ice" and something called Five Five in Thai (that is benzodiazepine, notes ASEAN NOW).

 

During the course of the police expanding the inquiry, as the phrase goes, he was hit and had his head wrapped in layers of plastic "just like Mawin", said the post referring to the victim in Nakhon Sawan. 

 

He admitted his involvement in the drug trade so a death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

 

After long-term good behavior he eventually served 15 years 10 months and 12 days before being released.

 

During his time in jail there were dark days, literally.

 

He was sometimes kept in a cell with no light, nearly died many times and needed the help of psychologists just to avoid dying in prison.

 

He had his legs manacled for 2 years and 8 months.

 

But after his release he has been helping his family selling fruit juice earning 500-1,000 baht.

 

And for the last two months he has been a volunteer for Zendai and in that time has helped 40 Covid-19 patients. 

 

He said: "After prison I have had a new lease on life. I want to help others feel the same". 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-09-03

 

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[Tropicalevo]

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

"After prison I have had a new lease on life. I want to help others feel the same". 

Well done.

[Scouse123]

He just confirms that the practice of ' plastic bagging ' is widespread among the Police and is a common method of the torture practiced by them in order to gain confessions.

When you scare a person to half to death they will admit to anything, it doesn't make it true.

[NanaSomchai]

9 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

When you scare a person to half to death they will admit to anything, it doesn't make it true.

Quoted for truth! And I'm also tempted to use this as my profile's signature.

 

PS: I CAN'T BREATHE!!!

[hotchilli]

Jeezus what a story....

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

He just confirms that the practice of ' plastic bagging ' is widespread among the Police

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

[Scouse123]

14 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

Well I know of another one I can confirm of a foreigner who I know personally. He described word for word to me in conversation. He even put it in his book.

 

 I find it naive that you are giving the Thai police the benefit of the doubt, just because now two cases are coming out and rising to the surface!

 

You don't believe it has been going on for a very long time???. Have you never wondered why people admit things at the police stations and then say different in a Thai court? ...FEAR!

 

I have known for years about this practice from my days in Chonburi.

 

They have scared locals half to death about revealing it. Another one is to ask for ID of witnesses that go to the police station, thereby establishing their addresses and hometowns, and threatening them and their families with repercussions if they don't ' toe the police line! '  on certain matters or telling them to keep their mouths shut if they know what is good for them.

 

You don't always need a smoking gun to weigh this up on the basis of probabilities and the lousy reputation of the Thai police.

 

 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

20 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

Well I know of another one I can confirm of a foreigner who I know personally. He described word for word to me in conversation. He even put it in his book.

 

 I find it naive that you are giving the Thai police the benefit of the doubt

Ok, three cases.    I'm not being naive, neither am I giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, I'm saying that just because there have been three confirmed cases over nearly 20 years it does not make it par for the course with RTP interrogations. 

 

I could well be wrong, I have been once before, but to make broad brush statements without much more than anecdotal evidence seems flimsy.

[Heng]

IMO some opinions would change if the murderer didn't enrich himself through his duty as a police officer.   Say if he simply was a torturer of drug dealers and other criminals.    I bet he would get the same pass that a lot of us give those young men and women at Abu Ghraib. 

[mtls2005]

Yeah, there was nothing to suggest that Joe Ferrari is a bad apple. He learned the torture/extortion racket from older policemen. Just like in Training Day.

 

One assumes this has been going on since there were policemen in Thailand.

 

 

[Heng]

21 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Yeah, there was nothing to suggest that Joe Ferrari is a bad apple. He learned the torture/extortion racket from older policemen. Just like in Training Day.

 

One assumes this has been going on since there were policemen in Thailand.

 

 

Great movie.   

[ThaiFelix]

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

He just confirms that the practice of ' plastic bagging ' is widespread among the Police and is a common method of the torture practiced by them in order to gain confessions.

When you scare a person to half to death they will admit to anything, it doesn't make it true.

MI6, the CIA, and the Thai police were out together hunting rabbits.  Suddenly a rabbit jumped out of a bush and ran into the nearby woods.  MI6 went in the woods searching everywhere but no rabbit.  The CIA then took over and napalmed the whole forrest but still no rabbit was found.  Finally the Thai police went in but after only 15 minutes they returned proudly glasping a bear.  The bear, with a split lip, a bloody nose and a bag over his head was crying out "OK, ok, I'm a rabbit, I'm a rabbit"!!

[MrJ2U]

To many return to drugs.

 

Nice to see the 1% who don't.

[cyril sneer]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

something called Five Five in Thai (that is benzodiazepine, notes ASEAN NOW).

anyone know what this is?

[Artisi]

50 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

anyone know what this is?

Yes 55555

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Yeah, there was nothing to suggest that Joe Ferrari is a bad apple. He learned the torture/extortion racket from older policemen. Just like in Training Day.

 

One assumes this has been going on since there were policemen in Thailand.

 

 

In one country I know of, it's done in the street for all to watch, instead of a plastic bag it's  knee to the neck.... seems to be as effective. 

[candide]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Yeah, there was nothing to suggest that Joe Ferrari is a bad apple. He learned the torture/extortion racket from older policemen. Just like in Training Day.

 

One assumes this has been going on since there were policemen in Thailand.

 

 

And plastic bags! ????

[mtls2005]

15 minutes ago, candide said:

And plastic bags! ????

 

Joe Ferrari's tagline, "Paper* or Plastic?"   

 

*Paper means cash money. Just realized that might not be clear.

 

27 minutes ago, Artisi said:

In one country I know of, it's done in the street for all to watch, instead of a plastic bag it's  knee to the neck.... seems to be as effective. 

I think they do this sort of thing in the Philippines, and my home country.

 

Probably more effective for sure, I mean other than the human rights violations. Obviously different situation than Thailand, where this is probably well-known to happen, just that they want to keep it out of the public eye. Hence the hand-wringing by the regime.

 

 

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, MrJ2U said:

Nice to see the 1% who don't.

 

Excluding the chap Joe Ferrari murdered of course, who also won't be returning to drugs.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

Just because they have not been confirmed doesn't mean it never happened. Most of the Thai people don't really like or trust the RTP and any number of "mistakes or accidents" can happen to them.

 

This is Thailand where "honest policemen" are like "honest politicians", and harder to find than  hens teeth.

[Artisi]

15 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Excluding the chap Joe Ferrari murdered of course, who also won't be returning to drugs.

You mean the drug dealer who won't be pushing any more drugs.. 

[PremiumLane]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Ok, three cases.    I'm not being naive, neither am I giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, I'm saying that just because there have been three confirmed cases over nearly 20 years it does not make it par for the course with RTP interrogations. 

 

I could well be wrong, I have been once before, but to make broad brush statements without much more than anecdotal evidence seems flimsy.

So, basically you are saying let's ignore the numerous reports by Human Rights Watch and other organizations, news reports on what happened during the war on drugs, academic studies etc, etc, and boil it down to 'I am only go to go by the evidence of two cases I heard about on TVF'... well done ???? 

[PremiumLane]

15 minutes ago, Artisi said:

You mean the drug dealer who won't be pushing any more drugs.. 

So, if you are ever accused of something, before your trial the cops can murder you? 

[Dont confuse me]

I sincerely hope that the guy stays off drugs and continues setting an example 

[Artisi]

15 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

So, if you are ever accused of something, before your trial the cops can murder you? 

Quiet a stretch for what was implied , wouldn't  you say?

[tracker1]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

Maybe because they were suffocated or disappeared or too scared to say anything in case of repercussions 

[BostonRob2]

5 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not exactly, it just confirms that there have been two empirical confirmations of the practice in the last nineteen years, just two.   There may well have been more but no others have been confirmed, have they?

I had my hubcaps pinched in Liverpool. I still maintain there is more than one case.

[tracker1]

3 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

anyone know what this is?

Benzodiazepines possess psycholeptic, sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and amnesic actions although not well known in the fight against drugs here !

[sammieuk1]

Don't tell me it was Freddie Aston Martin did the his wrapping ????

[Albert Zweistein]

5 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

anyone know what this is?

Diazepam, Temazepam, Oxazepam, Lorazepam, everything that ends at pam. Sleeping/relaxing pill. Widely used in psychiatry. I take them when flying long haul, makes me sleep 7-8 hours.