Canadian drug suspect found hanged in cell

Canadian drug suspect Alexander Cazes, 26, found dead in a cell at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau in Laksi district on Wednesday morning, is believed to have hanged himself, police said.

Cazes was wanted by US authorities. He was arrested in Bangkok on July 5 and arrangements were being made for his return to the United States to face charges there.

A duty officer noticed a towel hanging from the toilet door in his cell about 7am, but could not see him, police said. The officer unlocked and entered the cell and found Cazes dead in the toilet.

more Canadian drug suspect found hanged in cell | Bangkok Post: news.

Another Cazes for the TD CSI squad?

Canadian drug suspect found hanged in cell

A CANADIAN inmate wanted in the United States in connection with narcotics trafficking was found hanged in his cell at the Narcotic Suppression Bureau (NSB) yesterday, police said. Alexander Cazes, 26, had been detained since July 5 after he was arrested at a residence in Thawee Watthana district by officers acting on an extradition request from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was found to have hanged himself with a towel in the bathroom of his cell in Bang Khen district at around 8am yesterday, police said. The Canadian was supposed to be preparing himself to see a public prosecutor for the extradition process when officers found him dead, according to NSB commander Sommai Kongwisaisuk.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2017/07/1453.jpg

It remained unclear whether anybody witnessed the incident, since his cell was separate from the others, police said. However, they added that inmates at other cells had heard Cazes asking officials about his appointment with the public prosecutor about an hour before he was found dead. Primary inspections indicated no evidence of a fight at the scene and no wound was found on his body, police said. Cazes had been in Thailand for seven or eight years without any criminal record |in this country. He had a Thai wife and |apparently earned money from a computer business. After his arrest, police confiscated Bt400 million worth of assets, including four Lamborghini supercars and three houses. His case could have been prosecuted in Thailand but the FBI made a request for his extradition. Cazes had given his consent to be tried in the US, and Thai authorities had been proceeding accordingly, a senior NSB officer, Chayaphot Hasoonha, said.

Canadian drug suspect found hanged in cell

Suspected AlphaBay Admin Takes his Life in Thailand

Ever since the AlphaBay darknet market went offline, people have been thoroughly speculating on what is going on exactly. With the site not coming back after almost a full week, things are not looking good. It now appears the alleged AlphaBay administrator, who goes by the name of Alexandre Cazes, has committed suicide in a Bangkok prison cell.

Given the nature of darknet marketplaces, it is often impossible to tell who is running a particular marketplace. In most cases, the real people behind such popular underground platforms are never unmasked. In the case of AlphaBay, that situation will not necessarily be any different. However, many people believe Alexandre Cazes is the person responsible for running this illegal marketplace.

Cazes was arrested in Thailand on July 5th, which coincides with the day the popular darknet marketplace suddenly disappeared. Without prior notice or official explanation, users were unable to place orders or access their funds. So far, this situation has not been resolved, which only makes it more plausible to assume the AlphaBay administrator has indeed been arrested. Or as the stories claim, he has apparently committed suicide.

According to Thai sources, Cazes took his own life on July 12th around 7 AM, while he was still detained in a cell of the Narcotics Bureau of Bangkok. On that day, Cazes was supposed to meet up with a lawyer to prepare for his extradition back to the United States. Standing trial in the US under allegations of arms trading, narcotics trading, and operating an illegal marketplace is never a fun experience. In fact, Ross Ulbricht got sentenced to life in prison without parole for a similar project known as Silk Road.

If Cazes is indeed the AlphaBay administrator, this news doesn’t bode well for the marketplace and all of the money still locked inside its wallets. It is unclear if anyone else has access to the necessary resources so that the platform can be relaunched in the future. It is also unclear as to what Cazes may have told the authorities in regards to AlphaBay, its users, or other people working on the platform.

On Reddit, there is some wild speculation as to whether or not these claims are true. It is hard to determine if Cazes is the real AlphaBay admin, but all of the information seems to hint at that outcome. His arrest coincides with the platform going down, and it would also explain why AlphaBay has not resurfaced. On the platform, the admin is known as “deSnakes”, which very well could indeed by Cazes. At the time of his arrest, authorities also seized his Lamborghini.

It appears the server powering the entire darknet marketplace is located in Montreal, Canada, and still appears to be operational. Whether or not this means law enforcement agents have successfully gained access to the information stored on the machine remains unclear at this time. With the AlphaBay administrator allegedly having killed himself, this once popular marketplace may not rise from the dead ever again.

https://themerkle.com/suspected-alph...e-in-thailand/

400 million baht in assets? could be more than that, of course, since that is a pretty old trick: look at the bag of money I found, the one that was reported to have 100 baht in it, but when I found it---it only had 50 baht (big Thai smile).

Thais kill people for far, far less than those gigantic sums.

Sure, a guy worth at least 400 million baht was down and out on his luck, and had no money to hire the best lawyers and so....he hung himself!

Sure he did. Case closed.

Alexandre Cazes death pic.

https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif

AlphaBay, one of the largest Tor-hidden drug websites that sprung up in the wake of Silk Road, has been shuttered for good after a series of law enforcement raids and arrests.

The site mysteriously went dark earlier this month. Some users on Reddit suspected an "exit scam," in which AlphaBay's founders had shuttered the site and absconded with piles of bitcoins.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which reported the news on Thursday, police in the United States, Canada, and Thailand collaborated to arrest Alexandre Cazes, who allegedly was the head of the online operation. The Canadian citizen was arrested on July 5 in Thailand, the same day that two raids on residences in Quebec, Canada, were executed. On Wednesday, Cazes was found dead, hanged in his Thai jail cell.

The Bangkok Post, citing Thai police sources, reported that Cazes had been living in Thailand for about eight years. Thai authorities also impounded "four Lamborghini cars and three houses worth about 400 million baht ($11.7 million) in total."

Cazes' name does not appear in a search of federal court records, but if any charges do exist, they may still be sealed.

Ross Ulbricht, the young Texan who was convicted of creating and operating Silk Road, was given a double life sentence—which was upheld earlier this year on appeal. Ulbricht was also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts."

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

This post originated on Ars Technica https://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-polic...abay-shutdown/

Quote:

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Thai authorities also impounded "four Lamborghini cars and three houses worth about 400 million baht ($11.7 million) in total."

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And without him to contradict them, it must be true.