Did he get out of jail? I ask because I saw the name “Blignaut Chan” on one of the airport immigration cubicle walls today.

Cam Nivag wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 3:51 pm Did he get out of jail? I ask because I saw the name “Blignaut Chan” on one of the airport immigration cubicle walls today.

Blignaut Chan is still in jail, and appeared in court yesterday. The verdict is expected next month.

June 8, 2018
South African drug mule admits to hiding cocaine in stomach
A 26-year-old South African told Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday he was only a drug mule after nearly a kilo of cocaine from Brazil was found in his stomach.

Mr Chan has been charged with drug trafficking.

He was arrested in September by police from the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug department in collaboration with custom and excise and immigration police based at the airport.

Police recovered 59 packages of cocaine weighing 759. 95 grams from his stomach. In court yesterday, Mr Chan said he was not a drug trafficker, but worked for pay.

He said the cocaine belonged to a Brazilian man named Austin. Austin had offered him $3,000 to transport the drugs from Brazil and give them to an unidentified woman living in Phnom Penh.

“To hide the drugs safely on the way to Cambodia, Austin ordered me to swallow them,” Mr Chan told the court. “According to Austin, the Cambodian woman who was the owner of drugs would soon contact me by WhatsApp when I arrived in Phnom Penh.”

“But when I was arrested by Cambodian police, I tried to contact Austin by WhatsApp but he could not be reached,” he added. “No one called to pick up the drugs from me.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50498590/s ... n-stomach/

Arrested and condemned to life imprisonment by Cambodian authorities for drug trafficking in 2017, a South African man, Blignaut Chan, was heard at the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal yesterday.

South African drug smuggler appeals sentence
Kim Sarom | Publication date 08 October 2020 | 22:43 ICT


The Court of Appeal on Thursday heard the appeal of a South African man involved in trafficking more than 0.5kg of cocaine from Brazil to Phnom Penh.

The man had swallowed the drugs before departing Brazil and was arrested at the Phnom Penh International Airport in September 2017 before being sentenced to life imprisonment by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

During his hearing at the Appeal Court, Blignaut Chan, 27, told a judge through an interpreter that he had been hired by Austin, also a South African man, to swallow about 50 pills filled with cocaine. Chan said it took him an hour and a half to swallow all of the pills.

Chan added that the fee for this service was $3,000. After he swallowed the drugs, he travelled from Brazil to Cambodia via Dubai. Customs officials at the Dubai International Airport did not detect the hidden drugs and Chan arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport on the night of September 12, 2017.

He said everything was arranged by Stin. Stin told him that when he arrived in Cambodia, he had to stay in a hotel, where a Thai woman would pick up the cocaine and transport it to Thailand. But the plan was foiled when authorities caught him.

“Initially, authorities at the Phnom Penh International Airport checked my suitcase and found no drugs. But maybe they were suspicious, so they called me for a scan and found drugs,” Chan said.

I knew in advance that I swallowed drugs illegally in Brazil. But I had no money, so I agreed to work for them. I would like the court to reduce my sentence,” he said.

Prosecutor Lim Sokuntha said the accused was detained at the Phnom Penh International Airport with 759.95g of cocaine. Drug trafficking crimes involving 70g or more are punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... s-sentence

Poor BigNought, he doesn't look very bright.
not the brain, not the face.

I hope doesn't get life for being just a dumb sad sack mule.
That would be truuuly sad.
and cruel. 750 grams ffs.


*** took it's mad drug war to SEA and twisted arms to make this happen - years ago now.
They have moved on themselves but their legacy remains
- and SOME of the foreign cops are still pushing that line and playing that game. >> steering mules to life in inhumane jails and not saying a word when this ^^^ shit happens.
That's the big crime here in my book.

Unfortunately for him there are no real grounds for any appeal, he has confessed to a serious offense and it is normal to get high sentences for smuggling class A narcotics in this region. I wouldn't be surprised if the authorities were tipped off and a bunch of other smugglers on the same flight just breezed through. Pure speculation. He won't do life though, they'll probably make a deal after 5 or 6 years if he can pay some lawyer fees etc.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:13 am Unfortunately for him there are no real grounds for any appeal, he has confessed to a serious offense and it is normal to get high sentences for smuggling class A narcotics in this region. I wouldn't be surprised if the authorities were tipped off and a bunch of other smugglers on the same flight just breezed through. Pure speculation. He won't do life though, they'll probably make a deal after 5 or 6 years if he can pay some lawyer fees etc.

He's already been in jail for 3 years. And he's not the only South African sentenced to life in a Cambodian prison for drug smuggling. Here's another one who thought it was a good idea to carry coke from Brazil to SEA. I suppose he is still in prison : newsworthy/south-african-arrested-with- ... 10885.html

Seems to me a lot of these busts happen when a barang travels from Brazil to Cambodia. This also happened to a Belgian guy I knew. Even though Cambodian immigration/customs is largely inept, it must look pretty obvious when a Non-Brazilian young man flies from Brazil to Cambodia by himself

It is often foreign, western cops/agencies that pass on the info to authorities here.
Oz is famous for doing that when they could arrest them on arrival back home. And the ringleaders will do 5/6 years in Oz - if they are ever caught.

Sometimes it is the syndicate - sacrificing one of their "shot gun" mules as a diversion to customs, so the other X number on the flight sail thru'.
(well, so i read)

Lot of broke honkies in souf efrika now, desperate times call for desperate measures