The family of a young British man jailed for smuggling drugs into Bangkok are asking that his sentence be scrapped, claiming that he has “learning difficulties.”
Michael Connel, 27, was arrested in November of 2003 trying to smuggle 3,400 ecstasy tablets into Thailand from Manchester, Manchester Evening News reported.
The pills – stashed inside facial cream containers in Connel’s luggage – were detected by an X-ray machine as he was entering Thailand at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
He was sentenced to 99 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 and was eventually reduced to 20 years.
After serving eight years in the notorious Bang Kwang Central Prison – known euphemistically as the “Bangkok Hilton” – in Nonthaburi, Connel is now lodged in Wandsworth Prison in the UK under a prisoner-transfer agreement.
Connel’s father, Derek, said that his son will serve half of the remaining sentence, six years, in the U.K. before being released on parole, the BBC reported.
Derek Connel said that his son was pressured by drug dealers in their hometown – Bury in Greater Manchester – to traffic the ecstasy tablets in exchange for a paid holiday to Thailand.
At the time of his arrest, Connel claimed that he was not aware the drugs had been placed in his luggage:
“Somehow when the tubs were opened by customs the pills were inside. I do not know how they got there. The tubs did not look like the same ones I packed,” the Manchester Evening News reported him as saying in 2003.
“This was my second trip to Thailand. I came here for the ladies. I came here in April for a week,” Connel added.
Connel said he originally pleaded his innocence but had been told he faced the death penalty if he didn’t cooperate with Thai authorities. He eventually admitted guilt and his father believes his son has learned his lesson.
“[Michael is a] naive kid with learning difficulties. He was stupid to do it – he knows he was stupid to do it,” Derek Connel said.
“He has done eight years in probably the worst prison in the world. I think he has done enough,” he added.
“I am going to do whatever I can to get his sentence reduced, or quashed, if I can and get him out,” he added.
He is asking the Ministry of Justice to consider his case.
A Ministry spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, British nationals imprisoned in Thailand could transfer to the U.K. to serve out their sentences.
“Prisoner transfers are not there to enable a prisoner to receive a reduced sentence, but to help alleviate the problems of imprisonment abroad such as language, cultural and visiting difficulties,” she said.
Michael Connel was caught trying to smuggle 3,400 ecstasy pills into Thailand.
