A fugitive Thai drug kingpin with a 1-million-baht bounty, who was wanted under 60 arrest warrants and played dead, was arrested in South Korea and extradited to Thailand on Tuesday.
Justice authorities brought the suspect identified only as Thapanan aka Noo Chen, 43, to a press conference at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) on Tuesday after his arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport from South Korea.
According to the ONCB, Mr Thapanan was a drug addict, who became a small drug trafficker in areas along Srinagarindra Road in Samut Prakan province from 2000-2002.
Later, he developed ties with ethnic groups in a neighbouring country and had a drug plant built near Thailand. His network smuggled tens of millions of speed pills and more than a tonne of crystal meth into Thailand for about a decade. More than 60 warrants had been issued for his arrest.
In 2009, he was arrested with 26,000 speed pills in Samut Prakan and fled to a neighbouring country during his appeal.
In late 2022, Mr Thapanan was reportedly "murdered" with his body being dumped into the Moei River in Myawaddy. However, Thai immigration police later discovered that he was alive.
The suspect hid in Laos, Vietnam, Japan and finally in South Korea where he was arrested on Monday.
ONCB secretary-general Suriya Singhakamol said that Mr Thapanan’s cartel was behind 25-30% of narcotics smuggled into Thailand annually.
The suspect was in the most wanted list of the narcotic suppression police and his bounty was set at 1 million baht.
