He might face the death penalty.

Swissinfo

Thai news here and here which puts it at 6kg.

bah I read this every single day from Peru, well not many swiss carrying drugs though...shame they ruin their lives like that!

An everyday story of stupidity and greed starring "an innocent courier" who was only trying to feed his family. Muppet; but I have to stick with my moral beliefs and hope that capital punishment is not administered.

Remember the golden rule when dealing in hard drugs: get an informer contract with the CIA and grow your poppies with Taliban approval to keep the cash flowing in....

6 kg? man, that's heavy!...

I would say, it is DEADLY ! His only chance is that King Bhumipol, with his close relations with Switzerland will pardon him from the execution. But it will mean lifelong imprisonment.

That's an awful lot to pardon...

Traffic in drugs: i can't have understanding or forgiveness for that. The guy knew what he was risking. I'm against death penalty but he deserves for sure a life prison sentence. He was ready to destroy the lives of thousands of young people with drugs.

No, disagree. They are ready to destroy their own lives and he is the means for them to do so.

And you can be sure of one thing, his shipment was already replaced by another (to do the same damage) the moment he was caught. That is the reality of it I'm afraid.

How does having a line of cocaine destroy your life ? It would mean a rather large proportion of the high flying business leaders in the world are somehow doing their jobs despite having their lives ruined.

Yep, greed and stupidity rolled into one. A lot of these couriers, especially in South America, actually get set up to get caught, so that the main courier gets through unhindered.

Death penalty or life in an overcrowded,disease ridden asian prison - I think I'd opt for the former.

I'm with these two. Coke doesn't really destroy lives. Well it can of course, but usually doesn't and is actually a much "weaker" drug than alcohol, normally consumed quantity against normally consumed quantity. I don't think he deserves any punishment at all...


Not with 4kgs though, that's a lot for a diversion.

One line of cocaine does NOT ruin your life - but it so often leads to another, and another - and an addiction which is very difficult to get rid off. I've witnessed this at very close quarters- and you are right, the regular users of cocaine ARE successful in the City, in top jobs all over. I know many who are barristers, Judges even. Seeing them still at it in their late 40s- every week-end, and for some most nights + a bottle or two- in the presence of their kids- I can assure you it ain't pretty. Successful? It depends what you mean by success- we obviously do not have the same measure of it. They will tell you, day in day out that they are NOT addicted, that they can STOP ANYTIME - but watching them, you know that they are lying, to themselves mainly, and to their children of course.

For sure you're right. It's highly addictive. But: there's a lot worse out there and there is no argument that this drug mule induced that barrister to do coke. None. He's a victim of the drugs trade and the USA's weird "war on drugs". Putting him to death is just sick.

So there's no chance somebody could have planted the drug in his bags without him noticing it, right?

It is the barrister's choice, of course. But surely it is the guy's choice to take the risk of fetching 6kg of coke - knowing FULL WELL what the consequences are. He is not a victim, surely! If he had been forced by his pimp to swallow some condoms full of the stuff, with a gun to his head, and his childrens' life threatened - but this is NOT the case.

Choice is a funny thing though - he ran out of money and made the "rational" choice to risk his life, not for millions and greed, but for $7000. It doesn't seem that he was in a position to make a rational choice. Various governments have set up arbitrary and unfair rules - these are at fault.

But he could have worked in a bar, or found another job to fund himself. Yes, it might have taken much longer and be much harder work - but then...
He knew the score (!) - didn't he?

Zero sympathy. He's a Thai resident so knows the score ( no pun intended ) well enough.
Everyone has a hard luck story when they get caught, an excuse to exonorate themselves.

Well, he'll have a few friends in his new WG:

There are also lot of very "poor" people who keep fighting for their lives with dignity and without succumbing to drug traffic. He has chosen to take shortcuts or the easy path that can also lead to dead-end (no pun).