Norwegian expat and Thai assistant given 18-month conditional sentences and banned from returning to Switzerland for seven years

Both Carl Vevle, a Norwegian national resident in Oberägeri, and his Thai assistant have been given conditional sentences of 18 months and banned from returning to Switzerland for seven years for having produced crystal meth in the Norwegian’s home in the municipality with the potential for commercial gain.

As the judge sentenced the pair, 42-year-old Vevle shook his head in disbelief. While the judge accepted the former investment banker had not sold on the crystal meth he had produced in a laboratory he had set up in his cellar, he certainly had the skills and all the necessary equipment in his flat to do so, and on a huge scale. As previously reported, Velve had admitted to police he had produced 40 grammes of methamphetamine for test purposes, and it was known he had offered drugs for sale on previous occasions, providing him, he thought, with a possible way out of the dire financial straits in which he found himself. Indeed, the flat he is still lives in is now having to be sold off.

When Vevle claimed it was legal to have 10 grammes of the drugs he manufactured for his own use, the judge corrected him and said this was only the case with regard to cannabis, not with the drugs he was involved with.

His 41-year-old Thai assistant was equally found guilty of offences pertaining to the Narcotics Act, namely supplying Vevle with drugs and helping him to set up his laboratory. Furthermore, she was convicted of offences in relation to the Aliens Act after involvement in a sham marriage to a Swiss woman at a time she living as a man.

As journalist Christopher Gilb mentioned, since both those convicted have already served time, neither will have to go to prison. However, both have been banned from returning to Switzerland for seven years. While Vevle has a child by his first wife, both of whom live in Switzerland, it was mentioned in court he has not seen his child for over one year now.

Vevle announced he would be appealing against his sentence and seven-year ban.