Drug jail shock for Briton

[bongme]

hi

The Times

May 17, 2002 Friday

From Andrew Drummond in Pattaya, Thailand

A YORKSHIRE businessman was convicted on drugs charges in Thailand yesterday only days after Embassy officials told his family that his release was imminent.

Kevin Quill, 39, of Halifax, was sentenced to six years in jail despite an apology from the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police and an admission that his business partners had framed him.

The Foreign Office was debating what action to take after being called “naive” for thinking that officers in Pattaya,notorious for police corruption, would heed General Noppodol Somboonsap’s orders “to clear the matter up”.

Officers ordered by the General to attend court failed to appear, issuing a statement claiming that police had acted properly but had no proof that Mr Quill had been framed.

When police arrested Mr Quill in October 2000, they found 100 amphetamine tablets in one cigarette packet of a 170-carton consignment. An officer was taped saying: “No more. Once I have enough money I won’t do this again.”

Bongme