The Appeals Court yesterday acquitted alleged Klong Toey drug kingpin Sayam Sapworasit, alias Suparp Sidaeng, of drugs charges citing insufficient evidence and conflicting witness testimonies. The court said Suchart Parnthachote, another drug suspect who later turned to become a key prosecution witness, provided conflicting accounts about Sayam's alleged drug trafficking. The court also found that evidence supplied by the prosecution that Sayam had been involved in the drugs trade since he was 13 years old carried no weight. The Criminal Court earlier sentenced Sayam, better known as ``Parp 70 rai'' to life imprisonment for conspiring with his accomplices to sell drugs and to 20 years in prison for money laundering.
The court also handed down a two-year jail term to Sayam for running a loan-shark operation. He was arrested at his Klong Toey home in 2003 at the height of the government's war on drug.