2018-10-07 to 2018-10-13 Trip to Thailand & Cambodia

Sunday Oct 7: This afternoon I flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok - with two main goals: to be a witness for a HK man on trial tomorrow for drug trafficking, and to look for information about the Nigerian Drug Lord Felix who lives in Thailand. Having been to Bangkok last year on a similar mission, I was familiar with the SkyTrain from Bangkok airport to the city and had no trouble finding the hotel where the HK man's family were staying and where they had kindly booked a room for me. Hotel very different from the US$30 place I stayed in last year, but this time one of my main concerns was security, so a better hotel is not a problem - Swissotel, Rathchada. When I bought metro ticket for second part of the trip there was a sign at the station entrance: NO DURIANS ALLOWED HERE!

Monday Oct 8: This morning after a pre-trial meeting near the criminal court with the HK man's excellent local lawyer Mr Sirichai, we went to Court 712, the size of a school classroom, with judges' elevated chairs at one end. Three women judges were scheduled to appear, as in man's first hearing, but only two showed up, and one of them spent most of her time handling other cases which were held in the room....for which various prisoners were led into the room. Prisoners allowed to sit with visitors, allowed to talk freely with family/friends, allowed to touch ....very different from HK. In HK the orderly and serious proceedings of the High Court make the goings-on of the District Court look like a market. Court 712 very, very marketish, with people coming and going, conversations taking place simultaneously at various parts of the room ....a very relaxed atmosphere.

HK man - Yau Kit Long - was with two HK women arrested at Bangkok airport for bringing drugs from Sao Paulo. Their story is here. It was the women's second trip, they pleaded guilty and have received long sentences. Yau seems to have been used by them and did not know he was on a drug run. Which is why when HK legislator James To Kun (in photo of previous link) ....asked me to help, I readily agreed to try to help find info to assist Yau ... and then agreed to come to Bangkok to be a witness today.

Turned out I was in the witness box for 6 hours today! Two before lunch and four afterwards. One blessing was the presence in the morning of my fellow Oblate Fr Dorot O.M.I., a Filipino who has been in Thailand for a long time. He was allowed to assist the elderly court translator whose English was good but needed help.

Everything had to be translated from Thai to English, then English to Thai, and the main judge was her own secretary, using a voice machine to keep a record of everything that was said ... for which we had to pause when recording was in process. A stenographer then used a special computer program to print out the judge's summaries.

The morning two hours was spent mainly establishing my identity, so that what I said in the afternoon could be taken seriously. So all the history and details of my anti-drug campaign were gone through with a fine comb. Sirichai had thoroughly prepared translations of many media items about the campaign and these were presented one by one, with my punch line being I thought 70% of drug mules knew what they were doing, another 20% also knew what they were doing but were forced/coerced to carry drugs, and 10% were tricked ... they did not know they were carrying drugs.

In the afternoon's four hours (during which, mercifully, I did not need to go to the toilet ...always a great blessing for someone my vintage), Sirichai skillfully used me as a filter by which to present all his evidence, getting me to comment on many items. e.g. how Yau on his flight to Bangkok took many selfies, showing his ticket, and put on FB ....not a normal practice of drug mules trying to keep a low profile. There was also the fact he did not know the combination to his luggage which had the drugs ...only one of the women knew it.

Before leaving HK I had prepared some documents like the story of the 10 elderly foreigners acquitted in HK two years ago, and some other stories I found on the internet about people being tricked by an accompanying friend to carry drugs.

When cross-examined by the prosecution, I had one attack of cynicism when asked if I had any documentation to prove that James To was a HK legislator, to which I replied "and nor do I have any documentation to prove that Donald Trump is President of the US"!

The procedings went well, judge was happy (just one judge in the afternoon), Yau and his family were given hope, and Sirichai's dedicated work was appreciated by all. Next trial date is Oct 29, after which summary reports need to be presented (in the following month). Then judge will take another month to prepare her verdict. If verdict is "not guilty", Yau could be back in HK for Christmas Please God

Forget to mention: no such thing as a jury in Thailand. Everything decided by judge(s).

Last night Yau's family kindly invited Sirichai and his team and me to a lovely meal, at which we digested the day's happening. Yau's elderly grandmother is here. She patiently sat through the whole day in her wheelchair. Especially for her sake I hope Yau is acquitted ...please Jesus!

Tuesday Oct 9: Today I had planned to make the long trip to Sakeao Province to look for Felix. Plan A was to go with some of Sirichai's staff. But at a meeting in Sirichai's office this morning - not far from my hotel - it became obvious that Plan B was much better: wait till tomorrow and Sirichai himself would go after making some important preparations today - like phoning his friend the Bangkok police chief (!) to arrange a meeting for us with the local area police chief!

So I spent most of the morning catching up on emails etc, then went for a midday swim at the hotel. Only my second swim this year, the first being in January in Suriname! Then a rest and a long walk during which around 3pm I had a combined lunch/evening meal ....pizza and salad!

Wed Oct 10: After a brief stopover at Sirichai's office (for him to collect some documents which had arrived overnight), his lovely Datsun sedan, driven by his young assistant "Benz" (also a lawyer), took Sirichai and me for the four hour trip to the Ta Phraya district of Sakeao province, right against the border with Cambodia.

Sirichai went straight to the local police station near Felix's home, and for nearly an hour the police chief and another officer went over all our material about Felix and about other Nigerian Drug Lords in Thailand. They even gave us new information about the Drug Lords.

According to a number of sources, the Nigerians are responsible for the supply of cocaine in Thailand. The cocaine arrives in China in containers! (as in this report), then is carried overland to Cambodia, then into Thailand (mostly at the border crossing near our meeting place). The two police officers genuinely seemed not to know Felix was doing drugs. Checking items entering the country is the responsibility of the border police ("Customs"), not ordinary police.

But the officers confirmed the address of Felix (which we already had) and also gave us the address of a shop he runs not far from his home.

Photos of the trip here, with police station, Felix's former gas station, and Felix's shop:

The local officers and officers in Bangkok and Sirichai will follow up on the case of Felix and others in Thailand. Best for them, not I, to confront Felix. So today, no confrontation

The trip back to Bangkok took another four hours, including a meal stop around 4pm ...which was our lunch and evening meal. So when I got back to the hotel, I just had some fruit .... after another swim around 9pm!

The day had been most effectively arranged by Sirichai, pro bono, for which I am deeply grateful. Grateful also to the good lord for a safe trip in more ways than one.

Thursday Oct 11: After a very early Mass in my hotel room, and a bit of fruit, I took the metro and SkyTrain for the trip to the airport to go to Cambodia. Metro station only 2 minutes walk from the hotel. When I bought a ticket I thought I mispronounced the name of the transfer station (had to change lines).  But turned out the lady selling the ticket was saying "elderly?" to which I eventually replied "very"!

Bangkok airport is huge and busy, just like HK, even at 8am, so it took me more than an hour to check in and go through all the security and immigration processes.

Phnom Penh airport quite a contrast. Medium size, but very efficient. Ten minutes after leaving the plane I had gone through Immigration and collected my luggage. I learnt some time ago not to mess around (...changing money...buying sim card...going to toilet...) before Immigration and baggage collection ...because that sometimes mean your luggage gets taken to the lost property office since it was not collected promptly (... which is good, to avoid theft, but a hassle looking for it).

For the sake of security and time I got an official airport taxi (hybrid electric!) to a hotel not too far from the location of the home of a Nigerian Drug Lord who has sent people to prison in HK. But when I went to that location, I found that the building had been demolished. I showed man's photo to neighbours but no one recognized him. After a good walk I went for ...another swim in hotel pool! Photos of today here

My hotel is The Grand Waterfront Hotel right on the bank of the awesome Mekong River. 

Friday October 12: This morning after Mass in my hotel room and a free breakfast in the hotel canteen I had two targets: to visit the famous St Joseph's Church and to contact the anti-narcotic bureau. I headed  to the bureau soon after they opened at 8am. Google had told me the anti-narcotic centre was next to the Ministry of the Interior. So I headed to the MI in a Tuk Tuk asking the Good Lord's help to meet "Mr/Mrs Right" ....as has happened for me so often in the past.

At the MI entrance, I was unable to communicate with a soldier of duty ...but then...a kind young man stopped and asked if I needed help. Thank you Lord! I explained I was looking for the anti-narcotic centre. He pointed to a building several hundred metres along the road. I thanked him and started waking. But then, as I passed another entrance of the MI (it has a very long frontage) who was there but the young man again. He had forgotten the key of his office and had come to wait for someone. And this time he told me who he was: a local Interpol officer!!! So we had a chat, I explained what I was doing, we exchanged contact details, and he said no need to go to anti-narcotics office. Not only their job anyhow ...a job also for Immigration. He told me to just send all info to him and he will pass it on to Immigration and anti-narcotics! Bingo! Thank you Jesus!

What chance that man would just happen to be at both entrances at the very moment I was there?!
How can we not believe in Providence?

From the MI I took another Tuk Tuk to St Jospeh's Church, also on the bank of the Mekong. A very historic place. My photos of the day are here

Saturday October 13: After a 5.30am Mass in my room this morning I took a Tuk Tuk to the airport. Tuk Tuk just as fast as a taxi ....can go where cars can't go .... not always able to tell difference between red and green lights etc. Arrived back in HK around 3pm

Thank you Jesus for a safe trip. Please bless everyone I met over the past week, and bless those kind people who made the trip possible

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