Ashley Vincent Livingston, better known as Redicat in the world of black market androgens, was extradited to the United States for prosecution last Tuesday after spending eight months in a Thailand jail. Redicat was taken into custody by Thai police last March 2008, along with British Dragon co-founder Edwin Richard Crawley, in Pattaya (Thailand) as part of an international sting operation involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). During his detention in Thai jail, he allegedly cooperated fully with Thai police in response to torture providing law enforcement with extensive information about his customers and business associates (”Spilling the beans on the Big Thai Bust,” December 14).
- Access to 10 years of complete order records.
- A list of bribes and gifts given to various board moderators [which included free product, Rolex watches and cash].
- Details of payments to various bodybuilding forums for banner ads and other forms of online advertising.
- Statements detailing purchases of stock made from well known suppliers and manufacturers.
Redicat was officially arrested on December 9, 2008 by U.S. Marshall Special Agent Jason Sherrell upon arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on a flight from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. His extradition was delayed by the Thailand airport closures at the end of November.
Ashley Livingston was transferred to a facility in Seattle, Washington where awaits trial facing multiple steroid distribution, steroid conspiracy and money laundering charges along with his co-conspirator Edwin Crawley in the United States District Court in the Western District of Washington as part of massive Operation Raw Deal investigation. Read more
The Bangkok airports resumed full operations today after an eight-day closure which brought international commerce in Thailand to a standstill with unfortunate consequences for anabolic steroid users who purchase their gear from Thailand-based sources. The blockade of Bangkok’s airport will nonetheless result in delayed steroid shipments and increased the numbers of lost parcels over the next few weeks (”No packages from Thailand this Christmas,” November 29).
International items are now being redirected via neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. I presume these countries will have a field day scanning the Thai mail for contraband. There have been multiple reports of packages simply vanishing off the tracking systems altogether.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) forced the closure of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Asia’s fourth busiest airport, and Don Muang Airport, a major international hub for Asian air traffic, for the past week. The anti-government group occupied the airports demonstrating against Thailand’s People’s Power Party in a case of electoral fraud demanding that the ruling party’s Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resign. The political upheaval has crippled the economy, not only the tourism industry, but the Thai export business including the thriving pharmaceutical steroid business. The seige ended and airports reopened after a Thai court removed Wongsawat from her post (”Protracted Thai Crisis Is Choking Its Economy,” December 1).
Many businesses rely heavily on Bangkok’s airports to move their goods and supplies, especially Suvarnabhumi, a $4 billion facility opened two years ago, normally moves about 100,000 passengers a day. Bangkok handles an estimated 3% of the world’s air cargo.
Some businesses are now sending goods for export roughly 1,000 kilometers overland through Thailand’s southern neighbor, Malaysia. But that involves a full day’s journey by road or rail through stretches of southern Thailand, where a bloody Islamic separatist insurgency has left 3,000 people dead since 2004.
Officials at Thailand’s Board of Investment said Friday that customs officials at the Malaysian border “cannot cope” with all the traffic, and were planning to keep checkpoints open around the clock to move more vehicles.
The impact of the airport sieges is spreading by the day. Thailand’s postal service says it has 23 metric tons, or 240,000 pieces of mail waiting to be delivered..
In the aftermath of the British Dragon and Redicat steroid bust in Thailand, steroid sources in the Southeast Asian country continue to face disruptions in their steroid distribution efforts (”Customs uncover ‘huge’ steroids stash,” April 1).
More than 2000 vials of a banned steroid have been found by Customs officials inside a parcel sent to Sydney from Thailand.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the steroid seizure by customs in February has resulted in ongoing steroid busts in Sydney Australia (”Steroids found in Thai parcel: customs,” April 1).
Customs officers at Australia Post’s Gateway Facility in Sydney found the 2,378 ampoules of Sustanon 250, Stanozol and Nandrolone in plastic bags after examining a parcel from Thailand said to contain glass figures…
After finding the drugs in the mail on February 19, Customs investigators executed search warrants on premises in south-western Sydney last Friday and seized evidentiary material.
Investigations into the major steroid seizure are continuing.
Customs national manager for investigations, Richard Janezcko, said the agency was “continuing to detect and investigate increased attempts to smuggle prohibited and restricted performance enhancing drugs into Australia”.
Australia’s war on steroids is one of the most aggressive in the world, perhaps even more draconian than the efforts by the United States.
Two of the best-known and most successful internet sources of anabolic steroids have been arrested at a Pattaya seaside resort in Thailand as part of an international sting operation requested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) via the Mutual Legal and Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the United States and Thailand. They will be extradited to the United States on “charges of using the Internet to illegally export steroids to the United States” (”Two Britons arrested in Thailand after sting operation: police,” March 21)
Police gave the names of the two detained men as Ashly Vincent Livingston, 45, and Edwin Richard Crawly, 44. They were arrested in a sting operation involving US anti-drug agents, police said.
Edwin Richard Crawly (aka Ox) and Ashly Vincent Livingston (Redicat) are the founders of British Dragon. Thai authorities have told the media that the two Britons did not do anything illegal in Thailand. Consequently, they face no charges in Thailand. Read more
