Laos drug lord jailed for life by Thai court
BANGKOK: A major Laos drug lord, dubbed “Mr X” was jailed for life yesterday by a court here, as Thailand battles record meth trafficking through its borders.
Xaysana Keopimpha, a swaggering Laotian, who before his arrest paraded his celebrity links and penchant for sports cars on social media, was picked up at an airport here in January last year.
He was accused of being a kingpin in a meth smuggling ring that funnelled tonnes of Myanmarmade yaba pills and crystal meth through Laos and into Thailand.
The Laos route heading south is increasingly used by trafficking gangs keen to reach markets in Thailand, Malaysia and as far as Australia and Japan, where the price of the drug steepens.
A court here initially handed Xaysana the death penalty, but reduced it to life imprisonment after he admitted several charges of drug smuggling, including more than 1.2 million yaba pills in a case dating back to 2016.
“Due to his confession during the investigation process, the court decreases his sentence to life imprisonment,” a Criminal Court judge said in his ruling.
Evidence from mobile phones linked Xaysana to a smuggling network that used Nong Khai, the Thai border point with Laos, to move drugs south, the judge said.
Standing handcuffed in his prison uniform, Xaysana did not react as the verdict was delivered.
The court said as part of Xaysana’s drug operations, he contacted a man with Thai-Malaysian dual citizenship, Sinudeng Ma, also known as Kamaruddin Awang.
Sinudeng was held by Malaysian police in Kelantan on Feb 2 last year on suspicion of trafficking meth pills into Malaysia.
Police said Bangkok and its suburbs offered hideaways and protection for the syndicate, with car dealers and celebrities helping to launder Xaysana’s profits.
They allegedly helped move drugs manufactured in the “Golden Triangle”, a lawless border region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. Rampant corruption in the zone allowed the drug trade to flourish.
Laos’ authoritarian communist regime has turned the insular country into a sanctuary for drug and wildlife traffickers fleeing aggressive policing in Thailand.