Phuket police arrest US drug fugitive
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Police officers led by Lt-General Priewpan Damapong, the assistant police commissioner in charge of national drug suppression, arrested US citizen Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, at his rented home in Phuket's Kathu area on Wednesday.
Officers from the Phuket Immigration and the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok arrived at the man’s home at about 5pm.
Hunter is wanted for smuggling drugs into the US, Captain Angkarn Yasanop of Phuket Immigration said.
“We were informed by the US Embassy in Bangkok that he was in Phuket. A New York District Court issued a warrant for his arrest on July 17,” he said. “He entered Thailand at Phuket Airport on September 6 and was allowed to stay in Thailand until October 5. However, his passport was revoked by the US authorities on September 19.”
Hunter was taken into custody and handed over to the Crime Suppression Division officers, who have already transported him to Bangkok.
