Thailand's justice minister has ordered a review of pardon criteria after public anger over the release of Laota Saenlee, an 85-year-old convicted drug trafficker who served less than a decade of a life sentence. Laota was freed on Friday from a maximum-security prison just north of Bangkok, following a series of royal pardons that reduced his sentence to below the nearly 10 years he had served, the Corrections Department said on Monday 17 August 2026. The department described him as a "former key drug offender" and said his age and good behaviour had qualified him for release. Local authorities will monitor him after his release, it added. Pardon process under scrutiny Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat said on Tuesday that he had asked the Corrections Department to clarify the facts surrounding Laota's pardon and release. "The officials followed the (pardon) criteria but there are some flaws in the criteria," Rutthapon told reporters, adding that a review was underway. Laota's release drew widespread criticism on social media. Rewat Klinkesorn, a former narcotics police chief who once investigated him, told local media, that he was "shocked that a major drugs dealer was released so early". "The corrections department should improve their regulations. He should not be classified as a good inmate because he is a major drugs dealer," Rewat said. Links to the Golden Triangle trade Laota, a former anti-communist guerrilla linked to powerful Myanmar drug kingpins, was arrested by undercover officers in 2016 for selling crystal meth in the Golden Triangle drug-producing region. He was convicted in 2017. Before that conviction, he had been detained several times over the years, but authorities had not managed to make charges stick. The Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, has long been a centre for some of the world's most prolific illicit-drug producers. Organised crime groups move an estimated tens of billions of dollars' worth of heroin, methamphetamine and ketamine from the region each year. From child soldier to convicted trafficker Laota, who is from the Lisu ethnic minority, joined China's anti-communist Kuomintang as a child soldier and rose through its ranks, according to a 2011 Bangkok Post interview. Like many Kuomintang cadres, he later fought for Thailand against communist insurgents during the 1970s in exchange for sanctuary. He was widely thought to have had ties to Khun Sa, a Myanmar-based rebel leader who died in 2007 and was one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers. Picture courtesy of AFP Join the discussion? 19 August 2026
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