Kim's last journey
As a youth Kim played ice hockey at the elite level
with Timrå IK. However, Kim Eriksson exchanged sport
against crime. In 2010 he was arrested in Thailand in his
luxury villa, with a lab and assets worth of
millions. Café Jan Källman meets with the Swede
who sits for life in Bangkok's most notorious prison.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan is the last one to leave the prison transport
from Klong Prem prison. The chains
rattle when he enters the back door of the Court
custody, he´s watched by armed guards. He wears
a faded prison garment with the numbers 9041
on the back. The sleeves are marked by a red strip, a
signal that he faces the DEAth penalty.
It is morning, August 22, 2011 at the Criminal Court
in Thailand's capital Bangkok. An hour later, Kim Eriksson Sirawan is in place in
Courtroom 706. It is the same courtroom where the trial
against him during the summer was held. The charge was production
and possession of 53 grams of crystallized methamphetamine, "ya ice".
During the trail Kim denied the charges altogether.
After 436 days in Bambat Phiset, the feared special prison
for drug offenders, he will get his sentence.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan is sitting on a wooden bench at the front together
with his female interpreter. He looks calm. Some relatives are
in place.
It is DEAd silent when the judge enters the room through a
small side door.
The judge then slowly reads
through the profound sentence;
the minutesare moving very slowly.
Only the fans in the air conditioning system are making a weak swishing
sound. The swede is now solidified,
slightly leaning forward. His neck is
glossy. After an endless pause the judge smiles and then bends the small black
microphone to himself and says:
- I hereby sentence you to the most severe punishment, capital punishment.
But for several reasons I convert the sentence to life imprisonment.
The sentence can be appealed.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan looks shocked, almost confused, the interpreter has to repeat
and explain several times. Kim then goes with his guards directly towards
the door, disappearing down the jail again, which is a crazy place.
A monkey house where the prisoners waiting several hours for the transport back to
prison. Family members are able to talk to their loved ones for 20 minutes
on the intercom phone. But everyone tries to yell to each other through the fence.
Café talks with Kim Eriksson Sirawan on the intercom phone almost immediately
after his sentence.
- They did not listen to my evidence. It is a political sentence.
They wanted to bust me and succeeded. The complete Thai justice system
is a joke. I am angry and disappointed.
14 July 2010, a hundred Thai police officers stormed
Eriksson Sirawan´s house in Rayong. They found
a laboratory, chemicals, recipes, and a video clip
that showed the lab in production and 53 grams of crystallized methamphetamine
- In Thailand called "ya ice". The drug is produced from
amphetamine through a laboratory process, and then looks like crushed ice. The
Swede was arrested and transferred directly to a safe house.
- It was an entrapment which was planned for several years
by the Swedish police. Now they took the opportunity to implement it in Thailand. I
was simply fooled. The drugs were planted in order to
get to me, he says.
Café met with Kim Eriksson Sirawan four times at The Central
Correction Institution for Drug Addicts, called Bambat Phiset
in Thai. It is within the Klong Prem prison complex
in central Bangkok and has a number of prisons, which are
separate units, totaling about 20 000 prisoners.
It is within Klong Prem's, among others, the Women's Central Prison,
known as Lard Yao is located. It was here where Karolina Johnsson, “Thediplomat's
daughter”
served her sentence. Lard Yao is the neighboring prison to Bambat, where Kim
Eriksson sits. Just a moat separates the two institutions apart.
The water is green, stagnant gas bubbles and sizzles on the surface.
It smells horrible, like a freshly opened grave.
The stench will get stuck in your clothes, a further humiliation.
All visitors to Bambat have to cross the moat by a narrow
bridge, surrounded by rusted barbed wire, and then clear the paper process
with legitimacy and forms. In the background are the
watchtowers rising. Pregnant Girlfriends, distressed
parents, siblings, friends and others await their turn in the heat.
Prisoner transport rolls in and out through a gate in the wall, stray dogs lays
under the cars in the parking lot.
The atmosphere in the waiting room is nervous and impatient - and everyone knows
why that the others are there.
In a small glass case is the today´s special displayed; a gray soup with overcooked
vegetables. The message is clear to
the relatives: order food from the
menu on the wall and send
to the prisoners or they can´t eat. The same applies to
cigarettes, clothing, soap, etc. everything has to be paid for. It´s also possible to
deposit funds into Bambats own
bank, so that the prisoners
can by their daily supplies themselves
.
When the names of the detainees are
called over the speaker system, this is done every half hour, the visitors have to get
their visiting forms from the
officer in charge and then rush towards the gate in the wall. Every second
is important. The visits are short. All bags must be locked up, the visitors
frisked. The tags are printed in the place of visit rooms
where prisoners are sitting in long rows behind armored glass,
with telephones on both sides.
- One can get used much but it's hard with all the violence
and all the drugs in here. One night a guy was stabbed in the
neck, a few mattresses from my said Kim Eriksson
Sirawan.
Bambat is only one of all these overcrowded prisons
found in Thailand. The country's prisons total capacity is up
to 100 000 prisoners. Right now there is at least double the number of prisoners
according to the
organization Union for Civil Liberties in Thailand which has
examined the situation.
Each prisoner has an average of over one square meter of surface to sleep on, they
are more or less forced together to sleep neck to neck on their mattresses. Compare
this with Europe: EU require 4-6 square meters per prisoner.
Union for Civil Liberties also criticized the frequent use of
shackles. But it has a practical explanation.
In Thailand, the guard/prisoner ratio is 1 to 45. If all the inmates could move freely,
the situation would be impossible to solve.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan looks surprisingly fresh the times
Café meets him, He in good shape both physically and mentally.
The blue eyes are clear, he seems strong and motivated despite
the long time inside the prison. Only one private visit a week,
on Tuesdays, is allowed for prisoners in the building D 9 where he sits.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan takes the phone and tells the horrifying story of dirt,
crowding, disease, boredom and heat. It is the usual picture
inside Thai prisons. But there is something else which is worse:
- Hatred, says Eriksson. There is so much hate in here inside
Bambat, contained hatred against unfair judgments and legal system.
One must learn to manage it. Otherwise it will be difficult.
How are you doing?
- First and foremost you have to be positive and mentally strong
to survive. It is the only choice we have except to start
to do drugs or commit suicide. Be glad for the little things. The only thing
I can do is continue to fight to prove my innocence.
Has the time this changed you in any way?
- Not everything is crap with Bambat. I have made many friends,
and value different things in life after a year here, it gives perspective.
Material things are unimportant. There are different values. Additionally
I believe in punishment. If you commit a criminal act you should be punished.
But you consider yourself innocent?
- Yes, but I also understand that there are many who do not believe in
my version. That it sounds too incredible. But I know what
has happened. Therefore, I focus entirely on working with my
appeal together with my lawyers.
You have meet with another Swede almost in the same situation as yourself?
- Yes, and it started when I lost twenty pounds in weight after
arrest. At one point the guards got the iDEA that I lost so
very simply in a month. Then they took me to prison hospital
here for a routine check. There I met Charlie, which, belivie it or not also comes from
Njurunda.
It's about the 62-year-old Karl-Erik Berglund, who has been convicted
for child sex crimes, a judgment is appealed. Berglund consider themselves
although he was innocent and the victim of a conspiracy in which the Swedish
police are involved. Berglund will not be granted bail but is
in custody at Klong Prem prison waiting for a new trial.
Meanwhile,he´s on a hunger strike and he is in very poor condition.
- We did talk a lot. It was almost
philosophically. He gave me some advice, including
trying to have a humble Buddhist attitude
to life. You have to put up with the situation. Life
is here and now, even if it is in prison. He
also said I would never take more than three days in
time here as well as the importance of routines to
follow, each day.
You both also believe that you have lost
assets in connection with the police arrest?
- Yes, in my case, the police in particular have sold my boat to a
individual police officer. The boat was worth the equivalent of SEK 250 000
but was sold for 60 000.
Money is needed in Thai prisons?
- Unfortunately, money is the only thing that helps to get a
decent life here. You can buy everything, not least, better food, if
you have the money. Everything costs, however. A phone is possible to buy for
SEK 35 000.
We are interrupted by a shrill signal, the caller when visiting time is over
after 20 minutes. Many are crying. Children presses their hands against the armored
glass, the fathers on the inside does the same thing. The guard
asks the visitors to hurry. Kim Eriksson Sirawan rises,
then goes in line with the other prisoners back to to their cells,
visitors make the way to freedom through the gate. Behind a
fence in the prison's courtyard is a goat standing eating from the sun burnt grass.
Kim Roger Eriksson was born on 17 February 1981 in Sundley. He grew up in the small community south of Sundsvall called Njurunda. His great
interest as a youth was sports in all forms,
but mainly football and ice hockey. Kim Eriksson was a very
promising hockey player in Njurunda. 14 years old he played in the district team in
Medelpad and then went on to join the elite club
Timrå ik.
He belonged to the same hockey generation in Timrå whit the
aspiring stars Henrik Zetterberg and Mathias Mansson.
But Kim Eriksson's career was over as early as a junior; he quit playing 18 years old.
The reason according to him was a back injury
but there were rumors of steroid use and that he therefore
would have been fired by the club.
Kim Eriksson had a very liberal approach towards steriods
and campaigned for the legalization of anabolic steroids. But
he says that he himself did not take steroids before his 20th birthday.
The reason was that he wanted to grow bigger and stronger to cope with the job as a
bouncer at
the pub Dalton's Saloon in Sundsvall, known for its cheap beer.
22 years old Kim Eriksson was sentenced to one year in prison for
having smuggled anabolic steroids. After serving his sentence, at the
Åby Institution outside of Uppsala, he left his home town of Sundsvall
and moved to Stockholm.
Two years later, on the 9th of February
2006 the Swedish tabloid paper Aftonbladet wrote "Steroid Factory unveiled in
Stockholm”
The accused made tablets with anabolic steroids and sold
via the Internet. The raid uncovered the first steroid lab
in Sweden. Customs raided the league on 29 January this year.
- We have not yet had time to map out everything that we seized. But
expected the facility is about a million
units or doses, says Lars Kristoffersson, Director of the Customs Criminal
Section.
- They had a mini-factory in a basement south of Stockholm,
and a warehouse north of Stockholm, where we found anabolic
steroids, tear gas and guns. We have except the steroids
a Kalashnikov, a gun and several pistols.
Three men - all in 25-30s - were arrested in
connection with the raid. "
One of them was Kim Eriksson.
When Kim Eriksson was released from custody in Stockholm,
May 2006, he decided to
start a new life in Thailand. He got a job for a real estate company and settled in
Rayong east of Bangkok, where he bought a house. It worked well
first year but then began to Kim Eriksson use drugs,
primarily cocaine but ya ice, crystallized methamphetamine, which
is one of the most common drugs in Thailand. The abuse went in
waves; drugs became part of his extensive party scene.
2008, he met his future wife Sumalee and they married
in August 2009. Kim Eriksson took his wife's surname,
Sirawan. The couple had a child on April 22 2010, at Bangkok Hospital
in Rayong. There was a girl named Teya. Meanwhile,
Kim Eriksson Sirawan tried to get free from his addiction and were
one time enrolled in a treatment center. He had no recurrence
but spoke openly about his battle against drugs.
The family´s lifestyle in Rayong attracted some attention because
they lived very well with a large villa, pool, boat, cars and
motorcycles. There were even rumors that they were related
with the Swedish royal family. When Kim Eriksson Sirawan was arrested
he had a watch worth more than SEK 600 000 in his wrist. According to the
Thai police he had also assets worth
the equivalent of eight to ten million Swedish kronor.
The money was supposed to come from the previous sale
of anabolic steroids online. During the spring of
2010 the family decided to move to
Sweden. There Kim Eriksson Sirawan was due to serve
a prison sentence of 3.5 years which was imposed only a few
months earlier (for steroid production in 2006).
The iDEA was then to live a mundane life.
Flights were booked on a flifht on July 17th
2010, with Thai Airways to Stockholm.
But the return trip never materialized.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan argues that it
was Swedish and Thai police, together
with U.S. narcotics police
DEA that was behind the raid. He also claims rightfully
that they had used the Swedish civilian chemist Thomas Lillius as a
undercover agent, and that it was he who placed
drug in the house.
- Because I knew Thomas Lillius, I let him into my house, as a
mate. But he tricked me for his own gain.
He fitted in with this assignment. Lillius disappeared
from my house just an hour before police arrived.
Ever since the time in Stockholm, in connection with
production of anabolic steroids in 2006, had
Kim Eriksson Sirawan had contact with the chemist
Thomas Lillius and his business. By
years, the two then discussed different approach
for further cooperation: the concerned subjects such
to produce nutritional supplements for athletes. A year
before the arrest Kim Eriksson Sirawan bought a laboratory at home in the villa in
Thailand.
- The purpose of the lab was to manufacture soap. I had
started and registered a company in Thailand for that.
Then there were also plans for the production of hand gel.
At a later stage I was debating whether or not
Lillius to start producing anabolic steroids,
which is not prohibited in Thailand.
Were you trying to get Thomas Lillius as a witness to
trial in Bangkok?
- Yes, but he never came despite repeated summons.
Why should you be exposed to such a complicated
entrapment?
- I think that the Swedish police's view
basically that they will have me arrested because I campaigned
for the legalization of anabolic steroids in Sweden. It was a pure
vendetta.
A key document in Kim's defense is a preliminary investigation
for gross misconduct within the Swedish Police. Café
have read the document. It is an almost thriller-like
reading and gives a fascinating insight into police work
with informants.
Chief prosecutor Stephen Goransson began a preliminary investigation
because Kim Eriksson Sirawans mother Asa on March 28th 2011,
made a statement that her son had been subjected to a criminal entrapment
by Swedish police in Thailand.
Three people were questioned in the investagation:
Staffan Jonsson
(Group leader at Rikskriminalens
intelligence section
operates all source information),
Anders Ullenius (National Crimenal
Information Management Group,
Jonsson's second in command) and administrators
Cecilia Fant (Intelligence Section
focusing on
drugs on the internet).
All three say they are very familiar with chemist Thomas Lillius and that he was in
Thailand in connection with the crackdown on
Kim Eriksson Sirawan den 14 July 2010. Fant was the one that got
contact with Lillius on the web in 2009 when he wanted to be a "source"
to the Swedish police. He was then driven, and came
with various proposals on criminal incitement.
That Thomas Lillius collaborated with the U.S.
narcotics police (DEA) had also long been known within the National Police
(RKP) in Sweden. In the preliminary investigations it states:
"Staffan and Anders were also aware that the DEA had
contact with Lillius. They know that a meeting occurred between Lillius and
DEA in Sweden sometime in late 2008 or early 2009.
Thomas Lillius resides in Sweden. The reason for their contact
was that that in the beginning of the 2000s Lillius was caught on a telephone wire
in the US. There, he instructed some people in the US how they
would perform in order to manufacture drugs. This piece of information comes
from the DEA's liaison officer in Copenhagen. DEA has, when they
entered into an agreement with Lillius stated that if he cooperates with them
he will escape punishment. One theory is that the DEA arrangement
with Lillius was already settled when Lillius contacted the Swedish police.
“It may be a way to get the Swedish police on the train"
The investiagation also notes:
"After Kim Eriksson was arrested in Thailand and Thomas Lillius
came back to Sweden, he was paid SEK 5000 from RPK on behalf of
DEA. According to information which would Thomas Lillius stay
in Sweden for two, three weeks and then get a green card in order to
move to the US. This has not yet occurred. Thomas Lillius has over time received
money now and then from the DEA. "
Was there any
entrapment from
Swedish police in connection
with the arrest of Kim Eriksson
Sirawan? In the preliminary investigations
it was not so: According to the Sedish police.
"Staffan and Anders put
an end to the proposals made by Lillius
in the form of different DEA operations.
Even the head of the RPK
has denied the suggestions
presented by Lillius and stated what he would be able to perform to avoid
being arrested. Lillius had ideas that were discussed which included that the police
would run a website and from which they would sell different separate substances
that are used in drug production. On April 15 2010, they had a conversation with
Thomas
Lillius, where they again made clear that he could not participate
in criminal activity, he must be aware of his
participation that may have an effect in Sweden, even if performed
abroad. "
It is confirmed that Thomas Lillius collaborated
with DEA and that he was in Thailand when Kim Eriksson Sirawan
were arrested. What role he had, however, is unclear. Swedish police took his
hand away from him. Cecilia Fant explains during the hearings:
"Then when we've met Thomas so I told it to him;
that if you learn and work with DEA, it is your business together
and you are committing a crime in Sweden or in other countries, then
I never help you. "
All three denies in the preliminary investigation that the Swedish police took place in
any activities that would have made an impact in Thailand. The same position was
taken by Chief Prosecutor Stephen Göransson when he in his decision on May 23rd
2011 declared that the
investigation is closed because "there is no reason to believe that an offense subject
to public prosecution has been
committed by Swedish police personnel ". National Police started a
confidential internal investigation of the case but it was closed.
- I am very disappointed that the court did not care about the
the document (preliminary investigation, editor's note).
It shows that the Thai legal system does not work. It is
so nonchalantly, there is no respect for common law principles,
said Kim Eriksson Sirawan.
Although he considers himself the victim of entrapment
and that there are many questions in the
case, what remains is the crushing fact: The Criminal Court
in Bangkok did not buy the Swede's explanation at trial
but found him guilty of the crime.
Café has three questions to the National Police regarding the
Kim Eriksson Sirawan case. These were answered by
Press Secretary Varg Gyllander by mail:
Does RKP cooperate with the informer by the name of Thomas
Lillius?
- RKP does not comment on the extent or
the degree that interaction occurs with the so-called
infromants.
Was the Swedish police in place in Thailand during
arrest?
- No.
If RKP subjected to Kim Eriksson Sirawan
an entrapment?
- No. Most of the actions
Eriksson says was done by Swedish police has been tried in a prosecutor-led
investigation. Prosecutors have assessed the data
and then decided to discontinue the investigation.
This suggests that there is no undue
participation by Swedish police in such a way as Eriksson says.
When the café talking with friends of Kim Eriksson Sirawan
he is described as "a very kind-hearted, generous and
caring human being. But also as "a little naïve”
and naive at times with lack of judgment. " He is
generally considered to be "intelligent and purposeful."
A good friend says:
- Entirely on their own learning he supposed to have built a small
tablet factory. It requires a lot of knowledge, and tremendous
stamina before reaching the goal. But when you
see how he has managed to assimilate information from
scientific articles in English about the tablet composition,
you have to admire his ability to search, select, and to transform information into
action.
On September 29th, after 447 days on Bambat Phiset,
Kim Eriksson Sirawan hopes to be transferred to the
notorious Bang Kwang prison. When a case regarding his property is going to take
place is not decided. Kim has to wait and see inside the Bambat Phiset prison.
Bang Kwang is called "the big tiger" because it is said to eat
their captives. There sits the prisoner who are on death row awaiting execution and
prisoners serving life sentences. All prisoners
must wear shackles around their ankles the first three months.
Bang Kwang, near the Chao Praya in the north of Bangkok,
is perhaps the toughest prison of all in Thailand.
Currently there are about 8000 prisoners there, but the prison is
only built for 2 000. The inmates get only one bowl
with vegetable soup and rice per day. All other foods
they must buy themselves. It is also at Bang Kwang
that the death penalty in Thailand are implemented.
Kim Eriksson Sirawan has appealed his life sentence.
But a new trial will not be held in any time soon. It may take two to four years before
this happens.
Then there is no more possibility of appeal. Next
decision is the final end point of the case.
When Café meets Kim Eriksson Sirawan inside Bambat
Phiset he does not fear the move to the "big tiger":
- It's a tough environment at Bang Kwang with murder and
assault. But there is more freedom because it is
as a city within a city. I also have several friends at Bang
Kwang. You may try to take it all as a man.
How do you see the future?
- Although I am in prison, I have a wife and
daughter to be there for. I have a wonderful family and
friends in Sweden who support me. I will concentrate on getting all pieces in order to
be able to cope with my life in Bang Kwang, I will concentrate
on the appeal and point to the errors in the investigation.
Beyond than that, there is no point thinking.