Thailand reviews pardons after drug trafficker freed

Thailand's justice minister said Tuesday he had ordered a review of pardon rules after 85-year-old drug trafficker Laota Saenlee was released from prison after serving less than a decade of a life sentence.

Thailand's corrections department said Monday that Laota was released Friday from a maximum-security prison north of Bangkok after a series of royal pardons reduced his sentence to below the nearly 10 years he had served. The department said the former drug offender was freed because of his age and good behaviour, and that local authorities would monitor him.

Laota was arrested by undercover officers in 2016 for selling crystal meth in the Golden Triangle region, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. He was convicted in 2017.

Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat told reporters that officials had followed the pardon criteria, but said there were flaws in the criteria and that a review was under way.

His release drew criticism on social media. Rewat Klinkesorn, a former narcotics police chief who once investigated Laota, told local media he was shocked that a major drug dealer had been released so early.