‘M’sian Iceman’ faces death penalty in Thailand

BANGKOK: A Johor-born man, famously known by the Malaysian media as “Mr T” or the “Malaysian Iceman”, could be staring at the death penalty for drug smuggling.

He is alleged to have tried to smuggle in 282kg of “Ice” or crystal methaphetamine into Malaysia two years ago.

Tan Hun Seong and three of his accomplices have been formally charged in a Thai court which, besides the death penalty, also provides life imprisonment upon conviction.

According to court documents, “Mr T” in his mid-60s, a 69-year-old Taiwanese man known as “Jimmy” and two Thai women would be making an appearance at the Bangkok Criminal Court for their trial beginning May.

The arrest of Tan at the busy Hatyai Airport in April last year received wide media coverage in Thailand and Malaysia.

Thai authorities suspected Tan, who lived in Hatyai and had a Thai wife, of being a senior member of an international drug syndicate which sourced the drugs from the Golden Triangle through northern Thailand and smuggled it into Malaysia.

The Malaysian, who was nabbed at the airport after returning from northern Thailand for “another drug business” as claimed by Thai investigators, also spoke fluent Thai and possessed various businesses in the southern border town.

The investigators found out about his role in the syndicate following the arrest and subsequent interrogation of two other Malaysian men at the Sadao Immigration Checkpoint in March 2016 near the Malaysian-Thai border with 282kg of “Ice”, bound for Malaysia.