Belgian-Dutch Drug Ring Caught On Koh Samui

[george]

Belgian-Dutch drug ring caught on Thai resort island

Cont'ed from here.

SURAT THANI: -- Four foreign nationals have been arrested on drug trafficking charges in Koh Samui off Surat Thani province while one other remains at large, a senior Thai police said Thursday.

Commander of the Royal Thai Police Narcotics Suppression Bureau Pol. Lt-Gen. Wut Liptapallop said the four were rounded up by police at a house in Koh Samui but their suspected leader, a Belgian national named Lotha Gabriel, had escaped arrest and was believed to be hiding out somewhere in the popular island resort.

The four were identified as Ronald Koornwinder, 46, and Paulus Meyer, 44, from the Netherlands; and Koen Van Staay, 30, and Kelly Cautereels, 25, from Belgium. Ms. Cautereels is the only woman in the group.

The police seized their cars and found several bank account books in their possession with combined deposits of about Bt100 million.

Gen. Wut said the local banks on Koh Samui will be asked to freeze the drug suspects' accounts including any others which may not have been found in the police raid, conducted with the help of tips from the Belgian police.

The foreigners had reportedly bought expensive plots of land and houses on the island resort, allegedly with the drug money, according to the narcotics police chief.

The foreign suspects led by Mr. Gabriel, for whom the police launched a manhunt on Koh Samui and nearby areas, had allegedly trafficked 200 kilogrammes of marijuana and heroin worth about five billion baht (100 million euros) last year, he added.

--TNA 2007-10-19

[jdinasia]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

Edited October 19, 2007 by jdinasia

[absolutelyBangkok]

100 million ... not too shabby ... wonder why it took so long to get them?

[Braccobaldo]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

[jberwick]

the useless, terrible war on drugs continue. Waste of time, money and lives... and people still do drugs, fancy that?

[faranginbkk]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

[Phil Conners]

Stupid law anyway. If people want to kill themselves with drugs what's the problem? The only result you get by making it illegal is creating a profitable market.

[IAMSOBAD]

I hope they put them to work with hard labor on a road crew. I hate people who live rich off of others pain. You know they laughed every day on their way to the bank. HE WHO LAUGHS LAST...LAUGHS FREE!

They are the type of people who make us visit immigration every 90 days to check in like criminals. Make them suffer the rest of their pathetic lives.

This also proves that all drugs should be legalized. That would make no middle man making huge profits...give real people...real jobs...and free the police to fight terrorism.

[Mid]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

Belgium has the death penalty ?

[j0hnsmith]

The report says that they're alleged drug smugglers but doesn't mention any drugs being found.

No drugs = no evidence = no case????

[qualtrough]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

Belgium has the death penalty ?

No, but Thailand does, and they were caught here.

[Mid]

held for extradition ..........................

[mrt273nva]

legalize it, control it, tax it.

prohibition related crime would cease to exist. quality control would make the substance safer than the black market. tax could go into education and rehabilitation programs.

[damian5000]

This one wasn't even a skirmish, or part of the war. These are fools who made millions and millions of dollars and acquired all sorts of assets by the suffering of others. And then on top of that were retarded enough to deposit it in the bank. They deserve everything coming to them. I don't doubt the 25 yr old girl gets off with a far easier sentence than the rest.

[sriracha john]

Strongly suggest members read the previous thread included in the OP's first line for exact details of events...

Edited October 19, 2007 by sriracha john

[grantbkk]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

So consider Thailand a civilized country?

[AsiaCheese]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

Yep, I'm with you there. In this particular case, give 'em heroin on irregular intervals...

[grantbkk]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

That comment sickens me. In a free society people will have the choice to do what they want. If they choose to kill themselves with drugs, so be it.

And as another poster mentioned, no one deserves the death penalty. It's barbaric and inhumane and puts us on par with the likes of Hitler and George W Bush.

Who is us? You may be confused. The drug user only gets the death penalty in an indirect way. Here in Thailand they give the death penalty to drug traffickers who prey and profit on the backs of the weak.

[jeebusjones]

Who is us? You may be confused. The drug user only gets the death penalty in an indirect way. Here in Thailand they give the death penalty to drug traffickers who prey and profit on the backs of the weak.

So I take it you believe in the old "eye for an eye" mentality? Because I don't. You may disagree with what the drug dealers did, but to say they deserve to die is pretty barbaric IMO.

[KireB]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

What kind of creep are you? Deserve a death penalty, are you out of your mind!

[Slotman]

hmm looks like a death sentence case

I hope so...they deserve it!!!

Nobody deserves a death sentence. Only uncivilized countries still practice it.

I agree. Put them away for a long time in a hellhole Thai prison & that should suffice.

[mrt273nva]

these guys were just supplying a demand. if they didn't do it then someone else would. i don't understand why almost all countries don't use the demand as an opportunity to control the market by legalizing it. hundreds of years from now the historians will look back on our barbaric ways and wonder what the hel_l we were thinking.

Edited October 19, 2007 by mrt273nva

[Roachiebkk]

So how long do you think they operated for safely here in Thailand before the Belgian police got involved? If they had not then I reckon they would still be buying up land and shipping heroin....... along with some of the local high ranking uniformed lads.

Hate to be cynical

[sbk]

Thai police arrest four Europeans sought by Belgium as major drug traffickers

The Associated Press

Published: October 18, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand: Thai police arrested four Europeans Thursday who were sought by Belgian authorities as alleged major drug traffickers.

Members of Thailand's drug suppression police, accompanied by nine counterparts from Belgium, made the arrests Thursday morning at a house on the southern resort island of Koh Samui, said police Lt. Gen. Wut Liptapanlop.

Police identified the four suspects as Ronald Koornwinder, 46, and Paulus Meyer, 44, of the Netherlands, and Belgians Koen Van Staay, 30, and Kelly Cautereels, 25, the sole woman in the group.

Belgian authorities indicted the men in connection with the smuggling of 125 kilograms (275 pounds) of heroin, 200 (440 pounds) of cocaine and 350 kilograms (770 pounds) of marijuana into Belgium from South Africa.

The Belgian police who took part in Thursday's raid helped identify the suspects, who will be detained by Thai authorities pending formal extradition to stand trial in Belgium.

Source: www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/18/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Belgium-Drugs.php

[mrt273nva]

Thai police arrest four Europeans sought by Belgium as major drug traffickers

The Associated Press

Published: October 18, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand: Thai police arrested four Europeans Thursday who were sought by Belgian authorities as alleged major drug traffickers.

Members of Thailand's drug suppression police, accompanied by nine counterparts from Belgium, made the arrests Thursday morning at a house on the southern resort island of Koh Samui, said police Lt. Gen. Wut Liptapanlop.

Police identified the four suspects as Ronald Koornwinder, 46, and Paulus Meyer, 44, of the Netherlands, and Belgians Koen Van Staay, 30, and Kelly Cautereels, 25, the sole woman in the group.

Belgian authorities indicted the men in connection with the smuggling of 125 kilograms (275 pounds) of heroin, 200 (440 pounds) of cocaine and 350 kilograms (770 pounds) of marijuana into Belgium from South Africa.

The Belgian police who took part in Thursday's raid helped identify the suspects, who will be detained by Thai authorities pending formal extradition to stand trial in Belgium.

Source: www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/18/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Belgium-Drugs.php

lucky for them

[astral]

May they rot in H*ll

People like this give all foreigners a bad name,

to say nothing of the harm that they do to the youngsters who buy the drugs.

[fxe1200]

I would not mind the dope at all, but heroin really is bad.

I still wonder why Netherland is the only country in the world to make a fine differentiation intbetween dope and heroin. I hope other countries will find out about the advantages of the differentiation for their respective society soon.

Freewheelin' Frank says: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"

[sbk]

Belgian, Dutch fugitives caught on Thai island

Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:07pm IST

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Three Belgian and two Dutch fugitives alleged to be part of a major drug trafficking ring in Belgium were arrested on the southern Thai island of Samui on Thursday after tip-offs from Belgian officials, Thai police said.

The five were sought by Belgium after 125 kg (275 lb) of heroin, 200 kg (440 lb) of cocaine and 350 tonnes of marijuana were seized in Belgium in November last year, Thai police said.

The value of the drugs in Belgium was estimated at 5 billion baht ($150 million), they said in a statement.

It identified the two Dutchmen as Ronald Koornwinder, 55, and Paulus Meyer, 44 and the three Belgians as Koen Vanstaay, 29, Kelly Cautereels, 25 and Pedro Jose Noves Gracia, 40.

Belgian police had alerted their counterparts in Bangkok in June that the five had fled charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and organised crime, the statement said.

The five arrested on Thursday were living in a luxury hilltop mansion on Samui that Koornwinder bought under his Thai wife's name, Colonel Suntichai Verapakkaroon of the anti-drug police unit told Reuters.

Noves Gracia was caught at a Samui hospital where he had been treated for a month after a motorcycle accident, Suntichai said.

The other four, whose identities were confirmed by a team of nine Belgian police officers led by their national police chief, were arrested at the house in a dawn raid, he said.

It would take another a month for extradition procedures to send them back to Belgium for trial, Suntichai said.

Source: in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-30048720071018

[mrt273nva]

May they rot in H*ll

People like this give all foreigners a bad name,

to say nothing of the harm that they do to the youngsters who buy the drugs.

did it say anywhere that they were catering their services to minors?

[farangtoone]

most likely be taken back to their home and get life sentence, probably get out sooner on terms of good behavior ..