A British drug dealer among the UK’s most wanted has been extradited from Thailand after five years on the run and is now behind bars, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Saturday.
Richard Wakeling, 55, was sentenced by default to 11 years in prison by the British court for having tried to introduce 8 million pounds (9 million euros) of liquid amphetamine into the country in 2016.
Arrested in February in Thailand
He fled in 2018, on the eve of his trial, and has been on the British authorities’ list of most wanted criminals ever since.
Arrested in February in Thailand, he was extradited and arrived in the UK on Thursday night, the NCA said in a statement. He was brought before the court on Friday and “immediately jailed after being convicted in absentia.”
“Richard Wakeling thought he could escape justice if he left the UK,” NCA official Jacque Beer said in a statement on Saturday. “But the work of NCA officers here in the UK and abroad has kept him behind bars for a long time.”
The fugitive was arrested in February in Bangkok, when he went to get his car from a garage.
Source: BFM TV
