Sarahat Sawangjaeng, who now goes by the Korean-sounding name, Jimin Seong, told the police that he would order MDMA on the dark web using cryptocurrency before selling the drug locally. Photo: Thailand Police Handout
When police stormed an apartment in Bangkok last week in search of an alleged drug lord, they could barely recognize their target. The fugitive they found, who had been evading an arrest warrant since December, was unexpectedly handsome, sporting a completely different face from his old mug shots.
The 25-year-old, who was on the run from Thai law enforcement for three months, had undergone extensive plastic surgery that left him looking like what witnesses described to police as an “attractive South Korean Man,” local media reported.The suspect, identified as Thai national Sarahat Sawangjaeng, was arrested on Thursday at a condominium in Bang Na district, Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police Bureau announced in a Facebook post.
Reports suggest Sarahat has been arrested multiple times over the years, though the timeline of his arrests remains unclear. On Dec. 2, police issued an arrest warrant for him after customs officials discovered 2,575 grams of MDMA hidden in a parcel addressed to him.It’s also uncertain when he received the cosmetic procedure that local reports have described as a “face off”—a nod to the 1997 film of the same name—to drastically alter his appearance. Sarahat, who now goes by the Korean-sounding name Jimin Seong, told police he was planning to start a new life in South Korea despite not being able to speak the language.After his arrest last week, Saharat confessed that he would order MDMA, also known as ecstasy, on the dark web using cryptocurrency and then sell the drug locally, Thai police said in a statement.His whereabouts were finally exposed after investigators sent an undercover cop to infiltrate his distribution network, and one of his subordinates inadvertently revealed his location. Authorities have charged the drug kingpin with importing narcotics.“He is a drug lord importing MDMA from Europe at just 25 years old,” said Police Major-General Teeradej Thumsutee, describing Sarahat as “one of the main causes of Bangkok’s MDMA epidemic.”Thai authorities have voiced concern in recent years about the country’s booming synthetic drug market—this includes “yaba”, a low cost methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar, but also ecstasy, a form of MDMA smuggled to the region mainly from Europe. While authorities had tried in 2021 to move away from incarceration as a solution to drug-related offenses, recent developments suggest that they may be doubling down.
Under controversial new regulations proposed by the Ministry of Public Health this month, just two meth pills could be considered sufficient to imprison someone as a drug dealer—a move condemned by drug policy experts as regressive and potentially detrimental for drug users. Follow Koh Ewe on Twitter and Instagram.
The 25-year-old, who was on the run from Thai law enforcement for three months, had undergone extensive plastic surgery that left him looking like what witnesses described to police as an “attractive South Korean Man,” local media reported.
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Reports suggest Sarahat has been arrested multiple times over the years, though the timeline of his arrests remains unclear. On Dec. 2, police issued an arrest warrant for him after customs officials discovered 2,575 grams of MDMA hidden in a parcel addressed to him.It’s also uncertain when he received the cosmetic procedure that local reports have described as a “face off”—a nod to the 1997 film of the same name—to drastically alter his appearance. Sarahat, who now goes by the Korean-sounding name Jimin Seong, told police he was planning to start a new life in South Korea despite not being able to speak the language.After his arrest last week, Saharat confessed that he would order MDMA, also known as ecstasy, on the dark web using cryptocurrency and then sell the drug locally, Thai police said in a statement.His whereabouts were finally exposed after investigators sent an undercover cop to infiltrate his distribution network, and one of his subordinates inadvertently revealed his location. Authorities have charged the drug kingpin with importing narcotics.“He is a drug lord importing MDMA from Europe at just 25 years old,” said Police Major-General Teeradej Thumsutee, describing Sarahat as “one of the main causes of Bangkok’s MDMA epidemic.”Thai authorities have voiced concern in recent years about the country’s booming synthetic drug market—this includes “yaba”, a low cost methamphetamine flooding in from Myanmar, but also ecstasy, a form of MDMA smuggled to the region mainly from Europe. While authorities had tried in 2021 to move away from incarceration as a solution to drug-related offenses, recent developments suggest that they may be doubling down.
Under controversial new regulations proposed by the Ministry of Public Health this month, just two meth pills could be considered sufficient to imprison someone as a drug dealer—a move condemned by drug policy experts as regressive and potentially detrimental for drug users. Follow Koh Ewe on Twitter and Instagram.