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 over his alleged role in an attempt to smuggle 282kg of ‘Ice’ or crystal methaphetamine into Malaysia two years ago.
Tan Hun Seong and three of his accomplices have been formally charged in Thai court under the country’s Act on Measures for the Suppression of Offenders Relating to Narcotics 1991 and Narcotics Act 1979 which, besides the death penalty, also provide life imprisonment upon conviction.
According to court documents obtained by Bernama, the grey-haired ‘Mr T’, who is in his mid-60, 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 by a group of heavily armed police officers at the busy Hatyai Airport in April last year received wide media coverage in Thailand and Malaysia.
Thai authorities suspected Tan, who resided in Hatyai and had a Thai wife, of being a senior member of an international drug syndicate which sourced the drugs from Golden Triangle through northern Thailand and smuggled it to Malaysia.
The Malaysian man, who was nabbed at the airport after returning from northern Thailand for ‘another drug business’ as claimed by the Thai investigators, also spoke fluent Thai and possessed various businesses in the southern border town.
The investigators discovered about his role in the syndicate following the arrest and subsequent interrogations of two other Malaysians at Sadao Immigration Checkpoint in March 2016 near the Malaysian-Thai border with 282kg of ‘Ice’, bound for the neighbouring country.
The two Malaysian men had pleaded guilty to the charges and sentenced to life imprisonment by Thailand’s Criminal Court.
A source told Bernama that ‘Mr T’ had maintained his innocence and denied his alleged role in the syndicate, as well as in the attempt to smuggle 282kg of ‘Ice’ into Malaysia, but the authorities were confident on their case due to the long period of investigations.
The source also said he man had appointed a lawyer to defend him against the charges.
“All the (four) suspects denied the charges, but we have strong evidence against them,” he said adding that the three other suspects faced similar drug charges as Tan.
According to the source, ‘Mr T’ and the three suspects could be sent to the gallows if found guilty in court, but they could also escape the death penalty and opt for lighter sentence of life imprisonment should they plead guilty to the charges.
Their fate depends on the choices they make, said the source. — Bernama