Thai police arrest Australian man for smuggling drugs, highlighting growing influence of foreign biker gangs
Hells Angels have chapters based in Bangkok and Pattaya, a Thai resort notorious for its seedy nightlife and criminal networks
An Australian man linked to a “Hells Angels” chapter has been arrested in Bangkok for smuggling drugs, police said on Tuesday, as Thai authorities tackle organised crime run by motorcycle gangs in the kingdom.
Immigration officials detained 34-year-old Luke Joshua Cook and his Thai wife Kanyarat Wedphitak at Bangkok’s main airport on Saturday for attempting to smuggle half a tonne of crystal meth into Thailand in 2015.
Cook is accused of trying to bring the drugs to land from a boat moored in the Gulf of Thailand. He was spooked by a patrol boat and threw a large amount of the “ice” overboard. Around 50kg of the drug later washed up on Thailand’s southern coast.
Cook’s arrest comes amid a widening crackdown against the Hells Angels, who have chapters based in Bangkok and Pattaya, a Thai resort notorious for its seedy nightlife and criminal networks.
Police conducted raids on the motorcycle gang’s residences and businesses in Pattaya last week and on Sunday, seizing money, property, vehicles and guns.
It is a big transnational crime organisation which is just escalating its operations in Thailand
“It is a big transnational crime organisation which is just escalating its operations in Thailand,” Major General Apichat Sirisith told reporters on Tuesday as police revealed Cook’s arrest.