German Man Arrested In Drug Raid

KATHU: Tung Thong Sub-district police officers have arrested a 36-year-old German man on drug charges following surveillance of his Soi Bangtong home. Gerhard Mateses was apprehended by a team of 12 police officers from the sub-district station shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday as he walked behind his home. According to the police report, officers discovered a small container of marijuana concealed inside a newspaper Mateses was carrying. They also found two tubes containing nine white pills. The tablets have been forwarded to a testing lab for analysis. The police, who had placed Mateses and his home under surveillance in recent months, report they also unearthed a stash of narcotics buried in the ground a short distance from where the suspect was apprehended. There, the officers seized a total of 231 amphetamine pills along with six small plastic containers filled with heroin. Mateses was taken into custody and questioned at the Tung Thong Sub-district Police Station where he was subsequently charged with possession of narcotics with intent to sell. He is being held in the station’s lock-up pending arraignment. According to the police report, the suspect denied all knowledge of the drugs buried in his backyard. Police say Mateses told them he has resided in Phuket for the past ten years and is married to a Thai woman who works at a Patong Beach bar.