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, is alleged to have sold 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 Brit was handing out drugs at the bar.

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

Officers are said to have found 0.54 grams of ecstasy in a plastic bag, 25 ecstasy pills and 75 LSD sheets, known locally as ‘magic paper’, among his belongings.

Andrew was charged with possession of a Class I narcotic for distribution

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

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

The police officer, who was too scared to be named, said: “The suspect has admitted that all the narcotics found were his. He said he sold ecstasy pills to tourists for 1,000 baht each, while the LSD paper was sold for 100 baht each.”

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

He now faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment or the death penalty, depending on how severely the judges judge the case

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

Dozens more unexplained deaths of tourists later emerged on the island, earning it the chilling name Death Island (File Image)

Andrew was charged with possession of a Class I narcotic for distribution. He now faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment or the death penalty, depending on how severely the judges judge the case.

Koh Tao was named Death Island after 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 makers and researchers have blamed corrupt Thai police and a powerful cabal of local families who control the island for covering up the killings.

Hannah Witheridge and David Miller died on September 15, 2014 on Koh Tao. 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 entrapped two innocent Burmese workers Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo. .

Dozens more unexplained deaths of tourists on the island later emerged, earning it the chilling name Death Island.

However, local police have since made attempts to censor any negative cases from the idyllic island, with a handful of local families who have lived there for decades benefiting financially from its attractiveness to backpackers and divers from all over the world.