THAILAND. ITALIAN COULD FACE ON DRUG CHARGES

October 18, 2005: an Italian could face execution after being arrested on drug trafficking charges in northern Thailand, police said. Stefano Pelliccia, 50, from Rome, was apprehended on October 18 at a checkpoint in Mae Sai district of the northernmost province Chiang Rai, along the Myanmar border, allegedly with 1.4 kilograms (three pounds) of pure heroin strapped to his body.
"We were tipped off that a foreigner would be trafficking heroin from Myanmar. The suspect confessed that he was hired to traffic drugs to Chiang Mai for 50,000 baht (1,250 dollars)," police Major Thawatchai Rawangsri said.
Thawatchai said Pelliccia had crossed into Myanmar where he obtained the drugs from an unidentified Myanmar national.
He could face the death penalty if convicted. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 18/10/2005)