A conman trying to outsmart authorities with the help of cosmetic surgery is an age-old thing. A similar kind of incident occurred when a Thai drug dealer underwent several facial plastic surgeries to look like a handsome Korean man.
According to the local authorities, the man, Saharat Sawangjaeng, was trying to hide his true identity by using an alias Seong Jimin, a Korean name. However, to his bad luck, he could no longer dupe the authorities as he was caught last week at a condominium in Bangkok.
Saharat has been charged with the illegal import of narcotics, which included ordering 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA). As per National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), MDMA, which is more commonly called Ecstasy or Molly, is a synthetic medicine that alters mood and perception and is popularly used in the nightclub scene and at all-night dance parties, the “raves.”
The police have been on the lookout for Saharat, 25, for the past three months. It said that with plastic surgery, the man was able to get a complete remake of his original face. “None of his original face was left,” the police said in a statement.
Several of the witnesses in the case said that the Saharat looked like a handsome Korean man. Upon his arrest, the man revealed that he wanted “to start a new life.” He added, “I am bored of Thailand.”
The police were able to spot his location and arrest him on the basis of the MDMA sale he made to different sellers and buyers in Bangkok. This is not the first instance when Saharat has been arrested. The man was inside previously in jail for the past three times, one time on an assault charge. At the time, the police found 290 ecstasy pills and 2kg (4.4lb) of narcotics in liquid form in his possession.
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However, the fraudster was able to escape detention and later, to hide his identity and evade further arrest, he underwent heavy surgical procedures. His arrest by the Thai police seems to be very significant as major-general Theeradej Thammasutee reportedly termed him “one of the main causes of Bangkok’s MDMA epidemic.”
“He is a drug lord importing MDMA from Europe at just 25 years old. We believe there are more suspects in foreign countries. We will continue our investigation,” Thammasutee said.
Further linkages into the complete narcotics nexus have not been unearthed as of now as Saharat said that he is unaware of the identity of the people he dealt with. But he did confirm to the police that most of the imported narcotics were from the Netherlands.