Thai king pardons SA drug mule - report
2012-03-13 16:27
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Johannesburg - A Johannesburg drug mule has been pardoned by Thailand's king and is coming home, The Star reported on Tuesday.
Alexander "Shani" Krebs was arrested for drug trafficking in Bangkok in 1994, the day before South Africa's first democratic elections.
He was arrested for attempting to smuggle heroin out of Thailand and was sentenced to death at Bangkok's Bang Kwang prison. He was 34 at the time. His sentence was reduced to 100 years and then to 40 years.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej celebrated his 84th birthday on December 5 and granted amnesty to foreign prisoners convicted of drug offences, The Star reported.
Krebs, now aged 52, would arrive back in South Africa, after 18 years, on April 28.
Krebs' sister Joan Sacks reportedly told the paper: "I've been praying all these years for him to come home, but I never actually thought that he would ever be a free man.
"The last 18 years have been so tough. The pain is worse than if he had died, because it's an ongoing nightmare."
- SAPA
