British backpacker, 36, faces life in Thai prison after being arrested for selling drugs on paradise island

A British backpacker faces life in prison after being arrested for selling drugs on a Thai island paradise.

Andrew John Brett, 36, had allegedly been selling ecstasy and LSD to other tourists at the Ecco Bar on the island of Koh Tao in the southern province of Surat Thani.

Police launched an investigation following a tip from a concerned customer that the Briton was distributing drugs at the bar.

They tracked his activities for five months and finally arrested him on his way to the establishment on February 29.

Officers allegedly found among his belongings 0.54 grams of ecstasy in a plastic bag, 25 ecstasy pills and 75 sheets of LSD, known locally as “magic paper.”

Andrew was charged with possession of schedule I narcotics for distribution.

Police said Andrew left his apartment at 8pm every day to sell drugs to customers at the Ecco Bar, just a short walk from Sairee Beach, where British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were beaten to death on the beach. island in 2014.

A police spokesman said the case had been kept confidential for several months. They later said they had been ordered to “suppress the case” to protect the notoriously mafia-ridden island.

The police officer, who was afraid to be identified, said: “The suspect admitted that all the narcotics found belonged to him.” He said he sold ecstasy pills to tourists for 1,000 baht each, while LSD paper was sold for 100 baht each.

A police spokesman said the case had been kept confidential for several months.

He now faces up to life in prison or the death penalty, depending on how serious the judges consider the case.

Koh Tao was nicknamed Death Island after the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014 (File image)

Dozens of unexplained deaths of tourists later surfaced on the island, leading to it being given the chilling nickname of Death Island (File Image)

Andrew was charged with possession of schedule I narcotics for distribution. He now faces up to life in prison or the death penalty, depending on how serious judges consider the case.

Koh Tao was dubbed Death Island following the murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014. Previous cases of tourist deaths emerged and since then there have been a number of unexplained tourist deaths.

Authors, documentary filmmakers and researchers have blamed corrupt Thai police and a powerful clique of local families who control the island for covering up the murders.

Hannah Witheridge and David Miller died on Koh Tao on September 15, 2014. They are believed to have been beaten to death by the son of a prominent local family on the idyllic island before corrupt Thai police framed two innocent Burmese workers, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo. .

Dozens of unexplained tourist deaths later surfaced on the island, leading to it being given the chilling nickname Death Island.

However, local police have since worked to censor any negative cases that arise on the idyllic island, and a handful of local families who have lived there for decades have benefited financially from its appeal to backpackers and divers from around the world. .