Looks like this bloke will get the death penalty. For US$300??? What an idiot.
[i]A German man was arrested Saturday night on suspicion of smuggling 6.1kg of heroin into the country, and could face the death penalty, according to airport police.
Guido Alexander Artur Sollner, 37, was arrested after he arrived from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific flight at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport Saturday night.
āThe German man looked suspicious, so we X-rayed his luggage and found 6.1kg of heroin hidden in 15 cans marked as canned food,ā according to an Aviation Police Office press statement yesterday. A photograph released by police showed the suspect standing behind a stack of cans, marked with the S&W brand and labeled āKidney Beansā or āChili Beans.ā
Police said the smuggling marked the nationās largest drug bust in the last year, and that the heroin had an estimated street value of more than NT$100 million (US$3 million).
The suspect told police a Chinese man named Sam he met in Bangkok had asked him to deliver the heroin to Taipei, in exchange for a free trip to Taiwan, a cellphone and NT$7,000 spending money. He said he was instructed to hand over the heroin to a Taiwanese man at the Santos Hotel (äøå¾·é£Æåŗ) near Taipei Main Station, and the man would pay him US$300.
The suspect was detained by Taoyuan District Court judges yesterday.
Senior prosecutor Chang Hsueh-ming (å¼µåøę) told the Taipei Times that the punishment for transporting heroin is either a life sentence or the death penalty. But because the German suspect carried a large amount of heroin, he would be likely to get the death penalty, the prosecutor said.
Wow. Heās already admitted he knew he was smuggling something into the country (assuming the story is true). Who here would knowingly smuggle some unknown substance into a country with a death penalty for smuggling drugs, for $300? I mean, god, never mind drugs, those cans couldāve had bombs inside, for all he knows.
Poor sod. Surely an addtict to be trying to pull that off for so little gain and such big downside.
Sad and pathetic tale.
Wonder if Taiwan will push for the death penalty. I mean, it is officially about to be rescinded, isnāt it? When was the last case of any foreign national getting shot in Taiwan? I canāt imagine the Taiwanese would really piss off any sympathy votes they may have left in Germany by offing a German for drugs.
There does seem to be a firming of the desire to off smugglers throughout the region. An Australian in Singapore looks almost certain to go soon, thereās been an Australian in Vietnam quite recently and then there are that gaggle sprung in Bali. It seems highly likley the Indonesians will push to off at least a couple of the Bali nine.
[quote=āirishstuā]Wow. Heās already admitted he knew he was smuggling something into the country (assuming the story is true). Who here would knowingly smuggle some unknown substance into a country with a death penalty for smuggling drugs, for $300? I mean, god, never mind drugs, those cans couldāve had bombs inside, for all he knows.
Seriously, how many people would do that?
Iād say zero.
What was he THINKING???[/quote]
Or maybe he thought he could stiff the gangsters here and go out on his own to get some of that USD3 milliion street value for his cargo.
Stupid, stupid, stupid - and IMO thatās regardless of how much (or low) he was paid.
Why would he have come to Taiwan then where he was, shall we say, expected? If he really wanted to stiff them he should have gone to somewhere else, preferrably a country that does not have a death penalty for trafficking.
Anyhow, the guy doesnāt strike me as the smartest so I doubt that he had any such intention.
I remember chatting to a HK cop years ago who spent some time at Kai Tak helping the customs. He said those guys could spot couriers a mile away, but most of the time the big busts were tip-offs, or done in co-operation with other police forces or customs officers abroad. Sounds a bit like this guy was expected.
How good do yāall reckon the Taiwanese customs are at spotting these guys? I am just wondering whether the high street price is due to scarcity resulting from effective customs controls, or efficient supply control by the tattoed gentlemen who obviously run the show.
Iām surprised he got from Bangkok to Taipei via HK with this, but perhaps the RHKP decided to let him travel to Taiwan as heād get in more trouble there? Who knows.
If youāre that desperate for money there have to be less risky ways to get some cash. Surely smuggling drugs is pure madness?
[quote=āRascalā]Stupid, stupid, stupid - and IMO thatās regardless of how much (or low) he was paid.
Why would he have come to Taiwan then where he was, shall we say, expected? If he really wanted to stiff them he should have gone to somewhere else, preferrably a country that does not have a death penalty for trafficking.
Anyhow, the guy doesnāt strike me as the smartest so I doubt that he had any such intention.[/quote]
[quote=āirishstuā]Wow. Heās already admitted he knew he was smuggling something into the country (assuming the story is true). Who here would knowingly smuggle some unknown substance into a country with a death penalty for smuggling drugs, for $300? I mean, god, never mind drugs, those cans couldāve had bombs inside, for all he knows.
Seriously, how many people would do that?
Iād say zero.
What was he THINKING???[/quote]
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. God Bless Darwin!
I guess we will never really know. People do this for all kinds of mad reasons, a bit of money is more than I have right now and since Iām not viewing life much beyong today, what the hey?
Gary Fellows, writer of that book The damage done, was basically told to do a run to Bangkok where he knew heād likely be busted, or take a bullet in the head right there and then. He chose a possible bust over certain death.
[quote=āHuang Guang Chenā]Poor sod. Surely an addtict to be trying to pull that off for so little gain and such big downside.
Sad and pathetic tale.
Wonder if Taiwan will push for the death penalty. I mean, it is officially about to be rescinded, isnāt it? When was the last case of any foreign national getting shot in Taiwan? I canāt imagine the Taiwanese would really piss off any sympathy votes they may have left in Germany by offing a German for drugs. [/quote]
Why? Iām german and I think they should shoot him. Or are you saying germans like to be on the side of criminals?
I find it funny that just because someone was born somewhere else he should be threated diffrently. Isnāt everyone the same to the law? Why should a taiwanese be shoot when he would pull that kind of stuff off but a european shouldnāt?
Besides, I donāt think Germany doubts that he will get a fair trial here.
Not so much a German concern as a Taiwanese perception of how the Germans may respond.
I donāt think anybody should be shot. I do question why someone would risk so much for so little . . . and it certainly suggests he wasnāt playing with a full deck to begin with . ā¦ in which case Iām extra certain he shouldnāt be shot.
iād be surprised if he gets the chairā¦killing foreigners is bad PR and taiwan is pretty keen on not pissing off the world at large for any reason given the perilous nature of itās existence. but i may be wrongā¦
Youāve got the premis of The Damage Done wrong. Mr. Fellows, the smuggler, was arrested in his hotel room while asleep, and at one point, before he dozed off, he had a feeling that something was amiss, and that he should get up off the bed, and dump the herion into the toilet. He didnāt feel like getting up āand sealed his fate in that instantā -almost a verbatim quote, I just read it last year. Down in the police station in Bangkok, Mad Dog, the police chief, told him he could confess, or that he could run across the lawn and try to hop the fence. Mad Dogg would give him about 10 seconds of running, then he would shoot at him. Warren Fellows opted not to test Mad Doggās aim.
Sorry mate, privileged info. Gary Fellows, Warrenās older brother, was my rugby coach. Heās mentioned in the book. Gary died in a car accident while Warren (accidentally mixed the names in my previous) was still in jail. Gary Fellows was also a good friend of my fatherās. They were drinking together the night Gary died. Ironically it looks like it was prescription drugs that did him in. Heād been prescribed anti-depressants that week. Mixed with beer my father said he seemed uncharacteristically drunk.
The book does mention a shady character in Sydney that Warren is knocking about with . . doe he mention it was Neddie Smith? Basically Neddie put a gun to Warrenās head after heād completed his last run and felt that another group was setting them up for a fall. Neddie said something like, you go and they may kill you or I kill you now. He couldnāt write that about Neddie back when he released the book as he was still out and about.
Neddie Smith got put away for a road rage incident where he stabbed a motorist through the eye with a screw driver killing him instantly. He distributed heroin around Sydney through the 80s and has a very nasty list of mates and crimes to his name. It was a time when bodies where appearing all over the place with hands and heads missing. Along with competitiors, like Mr Asia, it was a particularly brutal time in Sydneyās underworld and also marked a low point for police corruption (see also the life and crimes of Det Roger Rogerson).
[quote=āThe Taipei Times articleā]Guido Alexander Artur Sollner, 37, was arrested after he arrived from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific flight at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport Saturday night.
āThe German man looked suspicious, so we X-rayed his luggage and found 6.1kg of heroin hidden in 15 cans marked as canned food,ā according to an Aviation Police Office press statement yesterday. A photograph released by police showed the suspect standing behind a stack of cans, marked with the S&W brand and labeled āKidney Beansā or āChili Beans.ā
ā¦The suspect told police a Chinese man named Sam he met in Bangkok had asked him to deliver the heroin to Taipei, in exchange for a free trip to Taiwan, a cellphone and NT$7,000 spending money. He said he was instructed to hand over the heroin to a Taiwanese man at the Santos Hotel (äøå¾·é£Æåŗ) near Taipei Main Station, and the man would pay him US$300.[/quote]
Firstly, I ask myself whether Mr. Sollner really stated that āSamā asked him to deliver āthe heroinā, as reported, rather than āthe cans of beansā. I doubt somehow that he would really knowingly run heroin for such a small reward. Perhaps he really thought he was doing someone a favour by delivering some food that is unavailable in Taiwan. We should ask ourselves how well he knew this person āSamā, and whether the cans looked suspicious in any way. Yes, I think most of us would feel that he was imprudent to accept the task - but that does not make him guilty of knowingly smuggling heroin. I guess he would still be found guilty even if he can show that he carried the drugs unknowingly, but in that case he would be treated more leniently. Anyway, Taiwan under the DPP is cutting the use of the death penalty, avowedly with the aim of abolishing it. Besides, executing a man from an influential country that has itself abolished the death penalty would be damaging to Taiwanās foriegn relations. Therefore I think the most likely outcome in this case is that Mr. Sollner will serve time in gaol (jail) but will not be sentenced to death, or, if he is sentenced to death, the sentence will be commuted.
Simple solution. He likes heroin? Fine. Give him a fix twice a day for the next 3 months and then ship his ass back to Germany. Let them deal with the scumbag.
People who deal in or carry drugs do not necessarily use it themselves. You can be sure that the people who make the big money in the drugs business (Iām not talking about two-bit couriers) would never be so stupid as to get hooked themselves.
What an idiot.
