Brit arrested in Phuket coke bust
Phuket Gazette 2011-04-11
PHUKET: -- A 43-year-old British man was arrested for possession of cocaine at his Phuket home earlier today.
Paul Hanna was caught at 4:45am with 33 packages of cocaine weighing 0.9 gram each at a house on Nanai Road in Patong.
The arrest followed a police complaint by a Thai woman claiming to be Mr Hanna’s wife.
She told Patong Police he had beaten her and was in possession of “lots of drugs”.
When officers arrived at the home it took them some time to awake the suspect because he was quite drunk, Patong Police Inspector Akanit Danpitaksat told the Gazette.
A urine test for drug use proved positive, he said.
Mr Hanna had been under investigation since January, he added.
The cocaine was found stashed away in a black garbage bag in a bedroom storage cabinet, he added.
He told Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakao today that he was living with his wife and son.
He sourced the drugs from Thai men on Soi Sansabai for 2,500 baht per bag and resold them at 3,000 baht each, he said.
He was unable to provide the names of the Thai men he bought the drugs from.
Mr Hanna, who operates a bar on Soi Bangla, said he was just supplying friends and did not sell to customers at the bar.
He had been living in Patong for about eight months, he said.
A former partner in the bar who returned home four or five months ago introduced him to the trade, he claimed.
He now faces charges of possession of a category 1 drug with intent to sell.
His wife would raise money for his legal fees and find a lawyer to fight his case, he told Col Arayaphan.
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