PHUKET: Briton Jason Crosby today pleaded guilty to charges of possession
of 50 ya E (Ecstasy) tablets with intent to sell and was sentenced to
nearly seven years in jail and fined 390,000 baht by Phuket Provincial Court.
The court initially sentenced him to 13 years and eight months in prison
and a 780,000-baht fine but, in accordance with standard practice, Judge
Somsak Laksanasomboon halved the sentence because Crosby had pleaded guilty.
Crosby, 33, was arrested on April 22 last year at the Scott Bar in Patong
by Pol Capt Pongsak Petchnongkhum, Deputy Inspector of Investigation of
Police Region 8.
Capt Pongsak, who testified in the case, told the Gazette after the
sentencing that he had arrested Crosby in a sting operation at the bar.
After Crosby sold 30 hits of ya E for 800 baht apiece to a man the police
had pose as a buyer, Capt Pongsak, who was working undercover, moved in and
made the arrest.
"He admitted that the drugs belonged to him and that he had smuggled them
into the country from Britain. When we searched his room on Nanai Rd we
found 20 more tablets in a large bottle.
"Based on the large size of the bottle, I actually think he smuggled in
about 1,000 pills. We also found a lot of other drug paraphernalia in his
room," said the officer.
Crosby today began serving his sentence at Phuket Provincial Prison, where
he has been in custody since his arrest, the court having denied his
attempts to get bail.
The time already served since his arrest more than 17 months ago will not
be deducted from his sentence.
