Anyone know this man? Does he live here or just passing through. Death sentence, really?
“A German national was arrested at CKS International Airport on Sunday night and detained on suspicion of attempting to smuggle 3.1kg of heroin into Taiwan, the Central News Agency reported. Airport police said they arrested Andreas Linek, 27, when they found the heroin in his suitcase after he flew in from Bangkok on a China Airlines flight. Linek told officers that he was approached in Thailand by a British citizen named Terry Sullivan and a Chinese man named “Dezzy” who paid him US$6,000 to deliver the heroin to a person in Taiwan. Andreas was remanded in custody and faces a maximum sentence of death for drug trafficking.”
No way he’ll get the DP. Not for a foreigner from a developed nation smuggling a relatively small amount (I mean, it’s obviously more than a personal stash, but it’s not a freighter-load).
I wonder how he got popped though. I’ve flown into TPE a few dozen times, have never had myself or my bags searched and have never seen anyone else searched. Nor have I seen drug sniffing dogs, as I have seen in the US and Japan. In fact, the security seems so lax I was starting to consider bringing in a few shipments myself.
They x-ray the baggage down below before it is sent out to the baggage claim area. So says a colleague of my wife who was caught with quite a stash of multi-vitamins and propolis on her way back from Australia. Watch out for any chalk marks, etc. on your suitcase or bag.
Lemme think about this, USD6000 if I get through, DP if I don’t… wow, it’s a tough choice… Street value on 3 kilos of smack must be in the several millions?
Give him the DP for stupidity.
I agree that he probably won’t get the death penalty but he will be speaking very fluent Mandarin, and possibly Taiwanese, before he makes it back home to Germany again.
Wow, how could the guy have been so stupid? There’s a big sign in CKS warning about the death penalty for drug smuggling. Why risk it for such small money? JUST PLAIN STUPID!
Had a friend who worked for the Swedish Trade Office a few years back and one of his duties was to go have Christmas dinner with one of his countrymen that was doing a stint in one of the local penal institutions for trafficking. Can’t remember how long the sentence was, but do remember that at the time, the guy was about nine years in and this was over five years ago!
The Apple Daily report on this case says that the airport police were tipped off that a shipment of “high purity heroin worth more than NT$100 million on the street would be arriving soon, probably from Thailand hidden in a black leather case.”
[quote=“Beachside Queenslander”]The Apple Daily report on this case says that the airport police were tipped off that a shipment of “high purity heroin worth more than NT$100 million on the street would be arriving soon, probably from Thailand hidden in a black leather case.”
[/quote]
So I guess the moral of the story is – be careful who you do business with.
[quote=“TNT”]Wonder though do Thai customs let them through then phone up Taiwan with a “tip off” they got?!
That way they don’t have to prosecute a foreigner[/quote]
Thailand has absolutely no qualms about jailing a falang for drug smuggling. It’s good publicity. It’s so common they have reciprocal arrangements whereby the inmates can serve out a portion of their sentence in their own country.
Flicka, check out this image-link below, the guy seated on the left, is that him (minus the suit I guess)? I couldn’t find an image from a local TW source … just curious …
It’s a well know fact that smugglers will often hire a “Patsy” to carry a small amount into a country from one place, while bringing in a much larger amount from another.
Kind of a shell game sotospeak.
Though this time they hired a guy named, “Andreas.”
Silly smugglers.
Also…Does this meen that the term “Patsy” will now be changed to “Andreas” ? And if so will it be upto the authorities or the smugglers to decide?
Like …
“It wasn’t me!!!..I’m just the “Andreas” here!!!”
About the chalk marks, that’s what this friend of my wife’s deduced. She said she noticed after the search that there was a very conspicuous white mark across her bag that, she thinks, was put there to mark her for searching. Could all be bunk, but it does sound like the way something like that might go down here.
Same thing here in Indonesia. Before I get off the plane I go to the toilet and get a couple of wet paper towels and put them in an airline sickness bag. After I get my luggage I check for any white marks and simply wipe them off. I haven’t been searched in years…but I’ve wiped off alot of chalk!
About the chalk marks, that’s what this friend of my wife’s deduced. She said she noticed after the search that there was a very conspicuous white mark across her bag that, she thinks, was put there to mark her for searching. Could all be bunk, but it does sound like the way something like that might go down here.
CK[/quote]
Tks. I was wondering about that. I’ve noticed chalk marks on my bags before.
