It is always bemusing when foreigners in Thailand think they can break Thailand’s extremely strict drug laws and not get caught.
Then, when they are invariably caught, many of them seem surprised at the sentence they are now facing — in some cases, life imprisonment or the death penalty depending on the severity of the charges.
Such seems to be the case for 48-year-old Briton Charly Garcia, who was caught by Thai police in Chiang Mai this week trying to sell cocaine, ketamine, magic mushrooms, LSD, and ecstasy to tourists.
Briton Charly Garcia sold drugs to an undercover police officer
Unfortunately for Garcia, police received a tip about a foreigner selling drugs earlier in the week, so an undercover officer contacted the drug dealer via the Telegram app he was using, and offered to buy 110,000 baht (just over $3,000) worth of various types of illegal drugs.
The drug exchange was arranged at a local Chiang Mai cannabis shop, with Garcia thinking the man he was meeting was a customer who wanted cocaine, ketamine and various other illegal drugs.
After the sale had taken place, however, police officers then rushed in and arrested the British man.
He was then taken back to his Chiang Mai apartment where stashes of various drugs were found.
Charly Garcia photographed by Thai police with his drug stash
Back at the Mueang Chiang Mai Police Station where the officers are stationed, as Thai police always do, photos of Garcia were taken (see above) showing the large stash of illegal drugs he was found to have in his possession.
Now charged with possessing narcotics in the categories I, II, and V for distribution, as well as possessing category II and IV psychotropic drugs without authorization, Garcia is facing possible life imprisonment or a death sentence.
This is because each of the charges carries a different minimum sentence ranging from 5 years to 10 years.
With that many charges, if found guilty on all counts, at the very minimum, Garcia could be in his late 60s at the earliest before he is released and deported.
Considering how primitive many Thai prisons can be, he may decide a death sentence is preferable.
Unfortunately, Charly Garcia isn’t the first British man caught selling drugs in Thailand either, as he is the third Brit arrested for selling drugs in Thailand in the last few weeks.
A word of warning to other Brits, or any other foreigner thinking about selling drugs in Thailand then.
Not only will you likely be caught, as there is always someone that will turn in but, when you are, be prepared to say “Bye Bye” to your normal life for years to come.
As, no, Thai authorities are not lenient when it comes to drug dealers. Foreigner or Thai.