Immigration Bureau teams arrested two German drug cartel leaders on Tuesday on Phuket and Ko Phangan. The pair led an organisation that produced and distributed a range of psychoactive drug cocktails across Europe from Germany, leading to several deaths. They were lying low in Thailand for years.
Two Germans who once led a large drug cartel operating across Europe from Germany were taken down by Immigration Bureau officers on Tuesday and arrested on foot of an extradition request from German authorities resulting in arrest warrants issued by the Criminal Court in April.
The Immigration Bureau is reporting the arrest on Tuesday of two German nationals wanted on an extradition request from the Federal Republic of Germany for their roles in organising a European wide drug production and distribution syndicate.
The Head of the Immigration Bureau Police, Lieutenant General Sompong Chingduang, gave details of the arrest operation which was mounted on Ko Phangan and Phuket on Tuesday after extensive surveillance and planning on foot of warrants issued by the Provincial Court on Phuket and Ko Samui.
The arrest parties were led by Police Colonels Thaep Changnegat and Pichet Saengbundit.
Two Germans named by police, Mr Kartun, the cartel leader also has a Russian background
The two men were named by police as Mr Alex Kartun, the drug cartel leader, who has both a German and Russian background, as well as his second in command Mr Alexander Wolfien.
It is understood both men fled Germany some years ago after the Federal Police smashed an extensive drug distribution network involving the production of psychoactive substances which mixed medications with chemicals to produce drugs that gave an artificial high.
Reports suggest that the drug network became a high priority for police in Germany after several users died from the substances produced by the cartel.
The criminal operation supplied a wide range of drugs through a criminal network whose reach extended across Europe and into Russia.
Recently, investigators in Germany received intelligence that the leaders of the cartel were hiding in Thailand.
Request from German Embassy to Police Chief
This prompted a request from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to the National Police Commissioner General Suwat Jangyodsuk.
The Criminal Court issued two arrest warrants for the men in April which led to Tuesday’s operation at a luxury villa on Ko Phangan where Mr Alex Kartun was taken into custody peacefully and on Phuket at Rawai Beach where Mr Alexander Wolfien was arrested.
‘The two suspects stayed with their Russian friends, who acted as their eyes and ears if police went there,’ disclosed Police Lieutenant General Sompong on Tuesday.
‘Immigration investigators had to exercise extra caution in tracking them down before seeking arrest warrants from the Phuket and Samui courts. Two teams were set up to arrest them.’
German drug kingpin invested in Thai property
After the arrest of Mr Kartun at his walled villa on Ko Phangan, police showed off the contents of his safe which included quite a number of title deeds to land and property.
They also seized a number of smartphones and a laptop computer as well as bank books and credit cards.
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