Thread: Suspected drug smuggler sent back to US after arrest in Thailand

Suspected drug smuggler sent back to US after arrest in Thailand
Sep 27, 2013

BANGKOK (AP) - An American described as a "leading drug lord" with a network spanning Asia and the United States was sent back to the US on a government-chartered plane following his arrest in Thailand, authorities said on Friday.

Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Agency were sent on the flight to escort Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, and five other suspects arrested during a sting operation on the resort island of Phuket, said Thai deputy police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang.

The flight was bound for New York where an arrest warrant has been issued for the six men, he said.

Hunter and his suspected accomplices - identified as two Brits, a Slovak, a Filipino and a Taiwanese - were arrested on Wednesday during a sting operation launched at the request of the DEA following a lengthy investigation into the suspected drug gang, police said.

straitstimes.com

Ex-Army sniper nicknamed 'Rambo' who was 'international hitman for drug cartels' is extradited from Thailand and charged in plot to kill DEA agent
27 September 2013

• Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, is accused of recruiting four other former soldiers to murder a DEA agent and the agent’s informant

An elite Army sniper nicknamed 'Rambo' who allegedly became a contract killer for drug cartels after he left the military was today extradited to the U.S. after his arrest in Thailand.

Joseph Hunter, 48, is accused of running an international cartel of hitmen 'straight from the pages of Tom Clancy' and plotting to murder a DEA agent for $800,000.

The 48-year-old who reached the rank of Sergeant during his twenty years of service was handed to agents from the DEA today after his arrest in Thailand.

Hunter and suspected accomplices — identified as two Britons, a Slovak, a Filipino and a Taiwanese — were arrested on Wednesday on the resort island of Phuket during a sting operation.


Kingpin: Alleged American international hitman Joseph Manuel Hunter was today extradited to the U.S. Here, he is being escorted by Thai commandos as he boards a chartered jet in Thailand




Wanted: Joseph Manuel Hunter has been on the run since June, when U.S. authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in New York

After leaving the military in 2004, Hunter is alleged to have begun a career as a contract killer and arranged the murder of 'multiple people' overseas.

During his time in the military he was a sniper instructor and drill sergeant.

He was caught in an international sting operation by the DEA, in which agents posed as Colombian drug lords and offered Hunter a contract to kill a fellow DEA agent and informer in Liberia for $800,000.

An attorney for the Federal government said:'The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evils ends.'

'The bone-chilling allegations in today’s indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel.'

Hunter allegedly enlisted the services of a former German army sniper Dennis Gogel and fellow US veteran Timothy Vamvakias after searching trhough online resumes when he was offered the 'job' to kill the DEA agent.

They ordered submachine guns, pistols, and sophisticated latex masks and shipped them to Africa in preparation for the hit.

Thai police arrest multi-national members of a drug network




The arrests occurred in Phuket, but authorities say Hunter and his gang ranged all over Southeast Asia trafficking drugs

But the DEA intercepted Gogel and Vamvakias in Africa before organising the arrest of Hunter this week.

Thai police said the DEA contacted Thai authorities several months ago to say that Hunter was believed to be hiding in Phuket, where he had rented a house.

They said Hunter regularly traveled around the region and last entered Thailand from the Philippines on September 6.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Walter Braunohler said he could not immediately comment on the case and referred questions to Washington.

dailymail.co.uk

British 'drug barons' accused of running one of world's biggest smuggling operations to be extradited from Thailand
Christopher Bucktin
27 Sep 2013

The arrest of the “trained to kill” pair came after U.S. Federal agents tracked down notorious American Joseph Manuel Hunter on Phuket


Captured: Hunter is allegedly one of world's biggest drug barons
Youtube

Two suspected British drug barons accused of running one of the world’s biggest smuggling operations are to be extradited from Thailand to face trial in New York.

The arrests came after U.S. Federal agents tracked down Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, described as one of the world’s “leading drug lords” on the holiday island of Phuket.

According to Thai police the three men along with a Slovak, a Filipino and a Taiwanese operated a huge network throughout Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The two Brits are said by Thai police to have had military expertise and be “trained to kill”.

Police in Thailand detained the men following an undercover operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

The two Brits along with Hunter, who Thai authorities said had served in the U.S. Navy, led a “big network” of drug smuggling, raking in millions of pounds per year.

DEA agents pointed out the men to Thai police at the Phuket Country Club and Patong beach area before they swooped in and arrested them.

All six men are expected to be deported to New York where a warrant for their arrest had been issued.

A source close to the case said: “This is a major breakthrough in the war on drugs.

"The British men along with Hunter and the others had been suspected for a long time as being the kingpins of the Far East.

“We had been tracking them down for a long time.

“We will now get them in New York where they will face the law to its fullest degree.”


Phuket: Where the six men were arrested

Thai police claimed Hunter had been in the navy, but a military spokeswoman said they could find no record of him serving.

“All these people were trained to kill,” said Thai deputy police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang in Bangkok, where the suspects were flown from Phuket.

He said the DEA contacted Thai authorities several months ago to say they believed they were hiding in Phuket.

The group travelled extensively around the region frequently visiting the other countries.

A court in New York had issued an arrest warrant for the men on July 17, on the charge of smuggling drugs into the United States. American Hunter is also accused of killing a judge in the Philippines, and is a former member of the US Special Forces.

Thai investigators had worked closely with US officials in a”highly classified operation”.

Local Phuket police units and officials were not informed about the operation, the sources added.

mirror.co.uk

youtube.com

Anyone know him?

Army Vet Turned Alleged Hitman 'Rambo' Charged in Plot to Kill DEA Agent



By AARON KATERSKY and MARK CRUDELE

In a plot seemingly ripped from Hollywood, a former Army soldier and alleged contract killer nicknamed "Rambo" stands accused of recruiting four other former soldiers from the U.S. and Europe to murder a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and the agent's informant. Prosecutors in New York said the planned double murder was part of what the defendants thought was a larger scheme to import large volumes of cocaine into the U.S.

Army Vet Turned Alleged Hitman 'Rambo' Charged in Plot to Kill DEA Agent

Saw him in a bar once in Pattaya?

A plot to kill a DEA agent, which was a set up by the DEA, there was no DEA agent to kill... so what is the crime really?

Originally Posted by Neo

A plot to kill a DEA agent, which was a set up by the DEA, there was no DEA agent to kill... so what is the crime really?

The nasty guys believed there was a target Neo so -

There was "intent to commit a crime" backed with actual actions (getting weapons etc.) that is enough in the eyes of the law in several countries, even if it is a Police sting operation.

"Intent involves knowing and deliberate actions that move to the end goal of the crime. In criminal law, even if the crime was not culminated (i.e., because the person was caught in the act), the intent serves sufficient to fine/jail/and or incarcerate an individual - the attempt shows an intent to fulfill the crime."

Originally Posted by larvidchr

There was "intent to commit a crime" backed with actual actions (getting weapons etc.) that is enough in the eyes of the law in several countries, even if it is a Police sting operation.

In a lot of countries, that's considered entrapment. They were offered nearly a million dollars for it. That alone could turn many non criminals into criminals. Not saying the guy is innocent of other crimes though.

Also, these sting operations help to sustain already bloated budgets as well.

Well since I have ethics and morals you couldn't tempt me to do it for any amount, but I guess I'm just different that way, someone's life (even a strangers) is worth more then that as well as is my conscience and possibly my own life in getting killed or as in his case arrested in the process. No entrapment..

You're a good guy, Floridaborn, but your credulity will bite you in the ass eventually. You buy any shit presented to you, like "prosecutors in New York said the planned double murder was part of what the defendants thought was a larger scheme to import large volumes of cocaine into the U.S."

To import cocaine into the US from South East Asia? There is no cocaine here, it's all made in the Andean countries.

"The bone-chilling allegations in today’s indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel."

Indeed.

Really? Maybe so but at least I won't live my life in a box with an aluminum hat on my head, peeking out occasionally like a paranoid rat, while waiting for the "bad" guys to try an "entrap" me into something I'd never consider anyways .. Oh and just out of curiosity what are you doing to counter that anyways besides hiding behind a computer screen in your secluded little box writing anonymously on a Thai based Internet forum about it?

Originally Posted by pickel

Originally Posted by larvidchr

There was "intent to commit a crime" backed with actual actions (getting weapons etc.) that is enough in the eyes of the law in several countries, even if it is a Police sting operation.

In a lot of countries, that's considered entrapment. They were offered nearly a million dollars for it. That alone could turn many non criminals into criminals. Not saying the guy is innocent of other crimes though.

Also, these sting operations help to sustain already bloated budgets as well.

It can only be described as 'possible problematic' entrapment, if it is initiated and done by law-enforcement Officers, in all other instances, the criminal law and judicial response to "intent", is pretty much the same in all of the western world, and that is correct and proper IMO.

But although it is not straight forward and every case is different, then yes I agree Pickel, some of the (US type) Police sting operations are borderline and problematic, and would not be legal in my home country.

Originally Posted by larvidchr

and would not be legal in my home country.

They ain't legal here either. but it seems that it's unpatriotic to point that out these days...

Thailand extradites drug ring suspects to US
Nov 19

BANGKOK (AP) -- Five men wanted for allegedly conspiring to smuggle cocaine as part of an international criminal network were extradited from Thailand to the United States on Tuesday, officials said.

The two Britons, one Slovak, one Filipino and one Taiwanese were escorted by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on a chartered flight from Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, Thai Police Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang said.

Somyot said they were suspected accomplices of their alleged ringleader, 48-year-old Joseph Hunter, who was arrested in the same sting operation in September on the resort island of Phuket. Federal authorities said the former U.S. soldier ran a murder-for-hire organization.

Hunter was expelled by Thai authorities, and charged in New York with conspiracy to kill a DEA agent in addition to the drug charges. Federal authorities said the former U.S. soldier ran a murder-for-hire organization.

Two other former soldiers, an American and a German, were also sent to New York and charged with conspiracy to murder after being arrested in Liberia, the venue for the alleged killing plot.

Two other alleged members of the gang, former soldiers from Poland and Germany, were indicted on the drug charges and arrested in Estonia.

ap.org