Myanmar

Myanmar court jails Australian publisher for 13 years over drugs charges

Published

Friday, August 9, 2019 08:33

PHOTO: Soe Zeya Tun

A Myanmar court yesterday sentenced 60 year old Australian media publisher Ross Dunkley to 13 years in jail after a police raid uncovered a stash of drugs at his home in Yangon in 2018.

Ross has extensive links with the media industry across Southeast Asia, co-founding the English language newspaper The Myanmar Times when Myanmar was still in the tight grip of a military dictatorship. Arguably, not a lot has changed despite the facade of a democratic make-over. Ross also used to be co-owner of Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Post.

Police arrested him, his business partner John McKenzie and seven Burmese nationals during a June 2018 raid on his home. Officers say they found a stash of crystal methamphetamine (ice), methamphetamine pills (yaba), three opium ‘cakes’, marijuana and a small amount of heroin, according to AFP.

Two people working as domestic helpers were later released.

Judge Myint Myint Maw announced the sentence at Yangon’s Western District court yesterday.

“Ross Dunkley and John McKenzie are sentenced to 13 years.”

Mr. Dunkley “appeared shaken and declined to speak to reporters” as he was led away.

Five Burmese women, also on trial broke down in tears as they were each sentenced to 11 years. All defendants had denied the charges and it is not yet clear if any will appeal.

The raid on Mr. Dunkley’s home was the second run-in with Burmese authorities. In 2011 he was sentenced to a month in prison for the assault of a woman at a Yangon nightclub.

Myanmar is now believed to be the largest producer of methamphetamine in the world in a shadowy, multi-billion-dollar industry, concentrated in the lawless Shan state that borders Thailand and Laos, aka. The Golden Triangle.

SOURCE: The ASEAN Post

Myanmar court jails Australian publisher for 13 years over drugs charges | News by Thaiger

PHOTO: AFP, via The ASEAN Post

Get more from The Thaiger

📱 Download our app on Android or iOS
👋 Have your say on our Thailand forums
🔔 Subscribe to our daily email newsletter
📺 Subscribe / Join YouTube for daily shows
👍 Like/Follow us on Facebook
🐦 FOLLOW us on Twitter
📷 FOLLOW us on Instagram

News Categories: Cannabis Myanmar

Join the conversation and have your say on Thailand news published on The Thaiger.

Thaiger Talk is our new Thaiger Community where you can join the discussion on everything happening in Thailand right now.

Please note that articles are not posted to the forum instantly and can take up to 20 min before being visible. Click for more information and the Thaiger Talk Guidelines.

Create an Account

Click to comment

Tim Newton

Tim Newton has lived in Thailand since 2012. An Australian, he has worked in the media, principally radio and TV, for 41 years. He has won the Deutsche Welle Award for best radio talk program, presented over 10,000 radio news bulletins, 3,900 in Thailand alone, hosted 650 daily TV news programs and produced 2,100 videos, TV commercials and documentaries. As founder of The Thaiger, Tim now acts as the Content Manager and head-writer, whilst supervising the growth of the YouTube channel. He's reported for CNN, Deutsche Welle TV, CBC, Australia's ABC TV and Australian radio during the 2018 Cave Rescue and other major stories in Thailand.

Up Next

Floods and landslides in southern Myanmar – at least 41 dead

Don't Miss

Myanmar’s army controls vast business empire to fuel atrocities – UN report