'Mr Big' drug dealer from Stockton arrested in Thailand after years on the run

Jonathon Moorby, also known as ‘Mr Big’, originally of Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, was detained by Thai police on the tourist island of Koh Samui after his visiting son was tracked from an airport.

It has been reported Moorby had been hiding out on Koh Matsum - a remote and small island in the Samui archipelago, which travel guides state features a small restaurant, kayak rental on the beach and “besides that, there is only heavenly peace”.

In July last year, a judge ordered Moorby, 47, to pay back £575,860 within three months or face six years jail in default, to be served on top of the 15-year prison term he had been given in 2014 for supplying cocaine and amphetamine with intent to supply.

He was found guilty by a jury of the offence in his absence after fleeing to the Far East.

Detective Sergeant John Fitzpatrick, of Cleveland Police, said: “Following an ongoing and extensive Cleveland Police-led operation we can confirm that a 47-year-old British national has been arrested in Thailand on suspicion of a number of offences.

“We are working closely with overseas authorities and our inquiries will continue.”

The island of Koh Samui, Thailand, where Jonathan Moorby has been arrested

Thai media reported drugs police in Surat Thani were alerted by British detectives that Moorby was due to pick up his son at the airport, but Moorby sent someone else to the rendez-vous, who was secretly followed with the son to a hotel.

It has been claimed several other relatives of Moorby then arrived, which ultimately led to the arrest of the Teessider.

Thai police alleged Moorby had bought a fake Belgian passport on the Thai black market for £22,000.

“We were asked by the British embassy’s Interpol representative to arrest the suspect,” Major General Soontorn Chalermkiat, of Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Police said.

“He is a key drugs trafficking suspect in Britain, dealing in cocaine and ice [crystal methamphetamine],” he said, adding that he had been found in possession of a fake Belgian passport.

British prosecutors have described him as a major drugs kingpin in the North-East.

Thai police said Moorby would be prosecuted for illegal entry and using a false passport before being extradited.

Moorby received a six-year sentence in 2004 for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply Class B drugs after 16,000 ecstasy tablets were seized, along with cocaine, amphetamine and 50kg of cannabis worth more than £250,000.

He was then jailed for another three years in March 2011 after he was caught with a holdall containing more than £115,000 worth of Class A and B drugs in his studio flat.

The island of Koh Samui, which is popular with tourists

While they have had some notable successes, western law enforcement officials say high levels of official corruption and weak local law enforcement continue to make the country an attractive bolt hole.

The country is also a major trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, the world’s second largest drug producing region after Latin America.

Huge quantities of heroin and methamphetamine are produced in the triangle – the border regions of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and southwestern China – with record seizures across Asia having little effect on supply or street prices.