Thai National Banged Up Abroad

[Pseudolus]

So, an acquaintance of the missus (would not call her a close friend, someone that went to Uni with her, dropped out in first year, and just sort of been around sometimes, that type of friend) has got herself banged (prison) up in Hong Kong.

Reason - Drug trafficking. She's a large lady, 25, naive verging on simple, and fell for the old "i love you come to visit me in Brazil" trick from some guy she had never met or even seen. I was of course screaming at all and sundry that this is BS, and she will be forced into being a Mule if she did go, but of course no one listened. A little hope for a happy life in a foreign country was more promising than her life here (divorced and daughter lives with ex husband) so off she goes.

Don't hear anything for a while, and I enquire where she is, but no news. Next thing this girls aunt calls the missus and says this girl is stuck in Hong Kong for a few years, the aunt has no idea what or why, but has a 6 digit number. Having lived over there I know it's not address related or a phone number so I called up the Corrections department, gave them that number and they told me where she is; Tai Lam womens prison on remand.

Here's the story. She gets to Brazil, met not by the fake picture of the guy she thought loved her but 5 black dudes who take her to a hotel for a week, rape her repeatedly, then show her the bag she will be buried in and the knife they will cut her throat with and then shown her way out; 700gs of coke in condoms, pills to stop her crapping, and a big jug of water. Pretty much no choice.

She flies into Hong Kong from Brazil via a load of placed including Brunei from whence she flew to Hong kong to cover her trail but of course Hong Kong do not freely let into the country lone Thai girls without a point of contact in Hong Kong for them or enough cash on the hip to pay for themselves and a valid reason for being there. Of course, she has none of this except her gran who there was no way she was going to contact with the coke inside of her, so she is detained in immigration at which point the coke makes its reappearance. Bang to rights.

She's going to get 20yrs + for this. I'm not going to argue that this is unfair because actually I am very anti drugs; she could have got to the first airport she arrived at and told them what was happening. Alas no. Also, regardless of anything else, the penalty needs to be there as a deterent. Does not stop me feeling desperately sorry for her and her daughter though.

She doesn't really have any friends (certainly not ones who are any help to her, or even true friends as farangs might have) but my GF wants to do anything she can. Support is all I think she can do, letters, visit if we go there, send pics of the daughter etc.

Just posting this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, many members here will know girls / friends of girls who would be vulnerable to this. Do not give up warning them if you get a sniff about this. They would not listen to me, so I gave up and almost smuggly sai "well, you'll see I'm right when she's in prison". Thank god she did not get found in China, Singapore or Thailand in hind sight. Anyway, hammer the point home.

Secondly, does anyone have experience of people being in Prison over there; doubtful; but are the Thai consulate any help to these girls of which there are quite a few? Any support groups out there as she only has an old gran who luckily lives in HK but will not last more than 20yrs. in fact I don't know what I am asking because I have no experience of all this. Any suggestions?

Cheers.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Pseudolus

[pattayadingo]

Taking what you have said is true, and I am not doubting you, that is a horrific story. Too often we become immune to these happenings and as we live in our own little worlds with our own little worries, yet to those it is happening to it is a nightmare come true and very sad.

edit typo

Edited June 21, 2012 by pattayadingo

[NHJ]

some people learn the hard way....

[yummypizza]

She's F****** my friend, in more ways than one, doubt that her country will intervene,if she hasn't got financial backing to help her ,it's all over, no use for a plea of ignorance, and humanitarian help isn't real big when it comes to China, yes very very sad, wish her luck.

[Warhammer820]

Something similar to this was going to happen to a female thai friend of mine, but her boyfriend warned her to check out this place that was going to hire her in Malaysia. Luckily she listened to him and found out the job was being a bar girl. She called her woman back who offered my friend to job to tell her she was no longer interested and the woman kept telling her she had no choice and she had to go because she has my friend's passport information. My friend told her again that she will not be going and hung up. Thai women, in my experience, do not do nearly enough if any research on important matters. This situation could have easily gotten out of hand if she did go to Malaysia.

[Pseudolus]

@PD - Absolutely true. I am a seasons basher on here, so not inclined to make this stuff up.

@YPizza - I said she was stuffed before she even left. If you are going to be banged up in Asia I would go for Hong Kong though; one of the more tolerable places I think. Certainly not china.

Warhammer - Completely agree. I have the feeling that this see no evil hear no evil produces a country full of very naive people. I mean, seriously believing that a middle aged stud (I saw the pic, said it was fake straight away) would chat to her a few times on MSN with no cam, decide he wanted to marry her, and then fly her out. Crazy. Just would not believe that there was something more sinister afoot. Could not fathom that this stud would not be waiting for her at the airport with a gold ring the size of sugarloaf mountain.

[george]

Pseudolus,

We posted a link to this topic on Thaivisa Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ThaiVisaNews

Look at what the poster Beautytai says there, she may be able to help out it seems.

[theblether]

The last story I came across of that type was a Russian lady who had fallen into the same trap in Brazil. They had even paid her air fare to get her over. Big business, small risk, disgusting and devastating consequences for the women who are subjected to that sexual torture and used as drug mules.

The world is full of scumbags.

[Pseudolus]

Pseudolus,

We posted a link to this topic on Thaivisa Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ThaiVisaNews

Look at what the poster Beautytai says there, she may be able to help out it seems.

Nice one - got in touch with her already.

Message to Ian cox that posted on there; you are basically a low life scum - hope you get nabbed sometime in your life and go down.

[LucidLucifer]

some people learn the hard way....

That is a harsh coment.

Taking the story on face value, all the girl is guilty of is being extremely gullable, and believing the lies of a con artist. It's not like us westerners are immune to that, is it.

She smuggled the drugs under duress, to save her own skin, not to make a fast buck.

This is a horrific story, and my sympathy goes to her, her family, and especially her little girl.

[NewlyMintedThai]

She's F****** my friend, in more ways than one, doubt that her country will intervene,if she hasn't got financial backing to help her

No country will "intervene" for anyone convicted of drug smuggling. Not a one.

[JustAnotherFarang]

This story is disturbing but if I was playing Devils advocate then I would assume that something doesn't ring quite true here. The question arises that once she was on the first plane to Hong Kong why didn't she alert one of the officials on the plane to her plight and asked for embassy assistance. She could have done this before she even boarded the flight unless she would have us believe she was coereced into flying against her own will. There is also the fact that she says she was raped and forced to consume the drugs but she then chose to sit alone in silence throughout the journey which seems implausible when it was another chance to cry out for help.

I hate to say this but maybe this is just an effort to save face and not admit to the crime that she has been charged with but if she is innocent and has a plausible story then I hope those that hurt her get what is coming to them

JAF

[LucidLucifer]

This story is disturbing but if I was playing Devils advocate then I would assume that something doesn't ring quite true here. The question arises that once she was on the first plane to Hong Kong why didn't she alert one of the officials on the plane to her plight and asked for embassy assistance. She could have done this before she even boarded the flight unless she would have us believe she was coereced into flying against her own will. There is also the fact that she says she was raped and forced to consume the drugs but she then chose to sit alone in silence throughout the journey which seems implausible when it was another chance to cry out for help.

I hate to say this but maybe this is just an effort to save face and not admit to the crime that she has been charged with but if she is innocent and has a plausible story then I hope those that hurt her get what is coming to them

JAF

You'd be walking a tightrope announcing to the authorities that you are carrying a huge amount of drugs. Even if you were being forced, how do you prove it? They're just as likely to believe you were carrying intentionally and had got cold feet. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. Maybe she just thought she'd take her chances that she'd get through, and that the whole sorry ordeal would then be over.

There are endless scenarios we could discuss here, but just for a change, why don't we all take this story as being true as told?

One reason I can believe it is I was told a similar story by a British girl I knew when I was travelling in India many years ago. She'd been living in Holland and was lured by a then boyfriend to French Guiana (where he was from), and once there she was coerced into carrying cocaine back. The details of her story are a little different, but this stuff happens.

Edited June 21, 2012 by LucidLucifer

[JustAnotherFarang]

Well I am just playing the devils advocate and postulating her reasons for not speaking out which is what anyone is likely to do when they are not in full knowledge of the facts or has reasonable doubts. Asking others to accept the story on face value is a little naive when there are so many unanswered questions and if her story is true, then those questions will need to be answered if she ever hopes to gain her freedom.

JAF

JAF

[JustAnotherFarang]

To sit there in silence and say nothing to no one whilst she still had a chance is a question that only she could answer but another obvious question would be why wasn't she more fearful of the packages splitting open in her stomach which would have killled her. Surely this would of been her most paramount concern as then she would never see the faces of her loved ones again.

I would also add that if she hoped that she would just get through it then that that would still implicate her of the charges of being a complicit drug mule irregardless of circumstances.

Reasonable questions deserved to be heard don't you think ?

JAF

[LucidLucifer]

Asking others to accept the story on face value is a little naive when there are so many unanswered questions and if her story is true, then those questions will need to be answered if she ever hopes to gain her freedom.

I'm not being naive, this kind of thing happens. Maybe you shouldn't be so cynical and disbelieving.

We could go into a multitude of different scenarios, but I don't see the point of doing so.

Edited June 21, 2012 by LucidLucifer

[GreenSnapper]

Asking others to accept the story on face value is a little naive when there are so many unanswered questions and if her story is true, then those questions will need to be answered if she ever hopes to gain her freedom.

I'm not being naive, this kind of thing happens. Maybe you shouldn't be so cynical and disbelieving.

We could go into a multitude of different scenarios, but I don't see the point.

False rape accusations also happen daily.

The story sounds rather fishy. She tried to smuggle the drugs into the country, doesn't sound like the victim she pretends to be.

But we just can speculate, hopefully the court will find the truth.

[YipYipYa123]

To sit there in silence and say nothing to no one whilst she still had a chance is a question that only she could answer but another obvious question would be why wasn't she more fearful of the packages splitting open in her stomach which would have killled her. Surely this would of been her most paramount concern as then she would never see the faces of her loved ones again.

I would also add that if she hoped that she would just get through it then that that would still implicate her of the charges of being a complicit drug mule irregardless of circumstances.

Reasonable questions deserved to be heard don't you think ?

JAF

after being lured to a foreign country , kidnapped ,locked in a room in and gang-raped constantly for a week by half a dozen men ,then threatened to be killed and buried might be enough to affect a persons rational thought process and some people dont think very rationally to begin with ........

[YipYipYa123]

Asking others to accept the story on face value is a little naive when there are so many unanswered questions and if her story is true, then those questions will need to be answered if she ever hopes to gain her freedom.

I'm not being naive, this kind of thing happens. Maybe you shouldn't be so cynical and disbelieving.

We could go into a multitude of different scenarios, but I don't see the point.

But we just can speculate, hopefully the court will find the truth.

Basically the truth is ,she was caught smuggling a shitload of CLASS A drugs

being raped or threatened beforehand proabably wont have much differnce to the legal mess shes in now

asian judges are tough and heartless ,and they will probably just look at the facts which are

700grams of cocaine and a drug smuggler caught in the act

id be surprised if she got less than 10 years ,maybe even 20

[LucidLucifer]

False rape accusations also happen daily.

Yes, and so do actual rapes.

The story sounds rather fishy. She tried to smuggle the drugs into the country, doesn't sound like the victim she pretends to be.

Didn't you read the story? She didn't do it of her own free will.

But we just can speculate

Yes you can, but I can't be assed, it goes nowhere.

hopefully the court will find the truth.

Yes, I hope so too. If her story is BS, she deserves everthing she gets, if it is true, I hope they have pity on her.

Edited June 21, 2012 by LucidLucifer

[JustAnotherFarang]

@ Lucid Lucifer Please don't take everything we say so personally, after all, it is not you or your friend who is locked up so why paint yourself be be her knight and go into battle with others who just want to ask pertinent questions. If that offends you, the maybe you should refrain from posting

JAF

[MrRealDeal]

Another fantastic 3rd hand story ......... take it with a grain of salt all the way around. How many drug runners don't have a big bag of excuses about how it's not really their fault ? ....... and yes I read the "story" and thats just what it is, a story, based on 2nd and 3rd hand accounts and based on believeing everything you were told or heard , that's just as silly as the girl in the story was supposed to be , the real truth lies someplace in the middle, if the story is even remotely accurate, and if you believe she wasn't headed there to do it in the first place even though she pretended not to be.

Yeah I was raped repeatedly , I was forced to carry a bunch of drugs , the evedence is right here for you to see , I really don't want to do it , but even though the doctors and police can plainly see my story is true ..... I'm gonna do it anyhow

It's only believeable if you swallow all the other fantastic stories that are not believable as well.

Their is a difference between this happening all the time and people telling stories about it happening all the time

The 5 black guys kinapping her in broad daylight at an international airport is my favorite nonsense part of the story. why ? Because if you wanted to trick or kidnap someone you wouldn't make it obvious by sending 5 black guys you would send one. But when telling a nonsense story 5 black guys sounds better in the story ...... until you think about how stupid and unrealistc that would be for 30 seconds.

My second favorite part is that you don't go through imigration when you fly through an airport, and you don't stop for a day when running drugs in your stomach for obvious reasons , so that part of the story is nonsense as well , you neither stop and stay needing to go to imigration , and you don't get to imigration by staying in the airport getting a connecting flight onwards to Thailand. You only see imigration when you are leaving airports not changing flights and you don't leave airports with a stomach full of drugs just so you have to swollow them the next day.

Unless it's your first port of entry and in this case it's not.

Edited June 21, 2012 by MrRealDeal

[Pseudolus]

Good to see the sceptics are out and about early. No worry's, I am one too (as you might note from most of my posts). Regardless of anything that happened in Brazil, she is guilty as hell of being a mule. There is no argument and no country can, could or should try to prevent the course of justice in this regard.

She is pretty simple (verging on being special needs) and actually she could not make this stuff up; I know her enough to realise that. Her brain could not compute that this might be mitigation when sentencing arrives; she wouldn't even be aware of what mitigation is so on balance I tend to believe her. However, there is a chance that she knew the score before leaving, and was going to get paid 1k USD for the trip for it all to then go horribly wrong.

MrRealDeal (ironic name) - read it again. Drug Delivery destination was to Hong Kong not transit. Going through immigration, if they are waiting to see if they will let you in, they stick you in a holding room. I lived there for years and know this to be fact. Secondly, not kidnapped in Brazil; where did I say that? imagine being a simpleton (not hard for you I guess) and arriving in a continent where you knew no one, nothing, not even the language, and there is someone there to meet you. Not the person you expected, but someone. Are you going to resist and struggle or more likely go with them to their car thinking everything is OK.

I don't mind you guys thinking it is horseshit, or indeed going to town about things you don't know about; I'm guilty of that on occasion as as well. I posted on here because this is happening; these guys trawl dating websites to find vulnerable girls and ruin their lives so that drug taking scum get their fix and drug dealing scum get their profit. And for the flamers, maybe your daughter or GF or wife's sister will mention something about flying off their to meet someone and you'll pause the think a minute and manage to save their life. Or maybe not.

[LucidLucifer]

@ Lucid Lucifer Please don't take everything we say so personally, after all, it is not you or your friend who is locked up so why paint yourself be be her knight and go into battle with others who just want to ask pertinent questions. If that offends you, the maybe you should refrain from posting

JAF

I'm not taking anything personally, nor am I defending the girl, I'm just taking the OPs story on face value.

I'll say it again, this kind of thing happens, so I don't have a problem believing it could be true.

And your questions haven't been pertinent,

Why didn't she do this? Why didn't she do that? All lead to your own conclusion that her story is false, and she is guily as charged.

Maybe your input would be better served making statements; instead of why didn't she tell someone? Try, she should have told someone. Nobody can answer the whys except the unfortunate girl involved, and she isn't here to defend herself.

People don't act rationally in stress situations, especially when said person isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box, as the OP stated way back in post #1. Maybe you should take that as your answer to why she didn't do what you would have done.

As for the advice about me not posting, thank you for that, but the only people that are in a position to decide that are myself and the mods. As for your own posting, i'm sure if you google 'conspiracy theory forums' you'll find somewhere you'll fit in nicely.

[h90]

some people learn the hard way....

That is a harsh coment.

Taking the story on face value, all the girl is guilty of is being extremely gullable, and believing the lies of a con artist. It's not like us westerners are immune to that, is it.

She smuggled the drugs under duress, to save her own skin, not to make a fast buck.

This is a horrific story, and my sympathy goes to her, her family, and especially her little girl.

Well the right way would be, to tell the authorities in China at immigration, if not before in the airplane or in Brazil. But that is a hard choice and I have no idea if someone would believe it or how the reaction in China would be.

[DP25]

I'm not sure I believe this story but tragic if it did happen.

They don't really need to do things like this to get drug mules. There is an almost endless supply of idiots that will willingly attempt to carry drugs through customs in exchange for money. Why risk something like this when willing smugglers are easily available? If you force someone they could give you up to immigration or the police and get your drugs confiscated and get you arrested. Much better to whisper some loving words and promise them lots of money and a bright future together once it is done. Everyone is going to come up with a story when caught about how it wasn't their fault.

[bonobo]

Let's simmer down a bit on the personal sniping.

[Pseudolus]

DP25 - I'm not concerned if you believe it or not. You are thinking rationally but walk in the shoes of of some nasty nigerian style dude. He can either fly a girl over, pay her 1k USD and send heron her way, or you fly her over, you and your mates have their fun, and then send her on her way in morbid fear for her life and not costing you a dime more. money saved is cash in their pocket and I have no problem believing these types of guys would do this. international drug cartels are not exactly known for being nice guys. Also, do not forget that a proportion of Mules are given up to the cops as sacrifices whilst on the same planes are the real smugglers with shed loads more with them.

Re: China - this has nothing to do with China. It was Hong Kong (which is still different). I only mentioned china because it is lucky it was not there (death by shooting for this offence there) I would say on balance that actually if she walzed up to customs anywhere and said "heh, I've got 700g of coke in my stomach and I was forced into taking it" there is a high chance she would not be believed, or if she was, killed when she got out. Cripes, the girls been locked up and even still most of you do not believe it so how would the typical customs person react? "yeah yeah sure. Sign this.Thanks. 20 yrs".

Edited June 22, 2012 by Pseudolus

[richard_smith237]

There is another thread running which asks if Tha Visa members hesitate to post on Thai visa.com due to the replies (or some closely related subject).

The replies from some of the to$$pots in this thread so far is why.

Thanks OP for bringing a very real story to our minds so we can be reminded and have the chance to help others should we recognise similar circumstances.

Having watched the TV series banged up abroad this story rings very true.... I don't know anyone who could face such a situation but simply because it is out if my range of experience doesn't mean it didn't happen.

A tragic story which I believe. The deplorable scum running this scam should hung and simply removed from the human race.

[Pseudolus]

There is another thread running which asks if Tha Visa members hesitate to post on Thai visa.com due to the replies (or some closely related subject).

The replies from some of the to$$pots in this thread so far is why.

Thanks OP for bringing a very real story to our minds so we can be reminded and have the chance to help others should we recognise similar circumstances.

Having watched the TV series banged up abroad this story rings very true.... I don't know anyone who could face such a situation but simply because it is out if my range of experience doesn't mean it didn't happen.

A tragic story which I believe. The deplorable scum running this scam should hung and simply removed from the human race.

I would add the deplorable scum getting their jollies taking drugs without a thought in the world to the fact that to get their kicks, a whole world of hurts dumped on some basically innocent / stupid / greedy (desperate) people.