Now entering her 50s and living in her home country, Thailand, Paetmuangjan has signed an affidavit saying she wants “nothing to do” with assets she acquired through importing methamphetamine into New Zealand.
To obtain the affidavit, police had to serve court papers on her - by email, and then in person in Thailand.
This has helped clear the way for a High Court judge to order the money forfeited to the Crown.
The money was seized during Operation Earle, an investigation into the importation of meth from Thailand.
On June 5, 2007, police searched Paetmuangjan’s Wellington home and found $20,000 cash, cell phones, Sim cards and documentation related to Western Union money transfers.
They did not find any drugs, but the Wellington District Court was told later that Paetmuangjan was co-ordinating deliveries and payments for a meth ring run from prison by her then partner.
The methamphetamine was smuggled into the country inside clothing packages and distributed to syndicates based in Auckland, Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Whanganui.
An order forfeiting the $20,000 to the Crown should have been made when the criminal case against Paetmuangjan concluded 18 years ago.
It was not, due to an “oversight”, according to a police application for a forfeiture order that was made to the High Court last month.
“The funds have inadvertently been sitting in the NZ Police trust account ever since,” said High Court Justice Helen Cull.
The police applied for the money to be forfeited under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, through which criminals’ assets acquired through their illegal activity can be confiscated.
Justice Cull said she was satisfied the cash was “tainted property” under that law, and should be forfeited.
Court documents show Paetmuangjan was a “vital participant” in the drugs ring operated from Rimutaka Prison by another Thai national, Aritut Sungsuwan, using contraband cellphones.
Sungsuwan had drug contacts in Thailand and was involved with other serving prisoners in importing on demand large quantities of methamphetamine from Thailand.
The other prisoners arranged with their friends outside the wire to deliver money to Paetmuangjan, who sent it on to Thailand.
At the time she was caught, Paetmuangjan had been in NZ illegally since 2003. She had no legitimate job and received no other monetary benefits which would explain the $20,000 in her house.
Sungsuwan was deported to Thailand at the end of his sentence.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former NZ Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.
