TRAFFICKER RUES LAPSE INTO GREED

A Heroin trafficker, freed from Bangkok's most notorious prison 42
years early, says he has spent every day regretting his doomed drug
run.

Peter Bojko, who flew home to Melbourne from Thailand yesterday, said
he had been rehabilitated in the draconian Bang Kwang Jail.

He said eight years in the prison had taught him the value of life and
freedom.

"Once you lose the lot almost lose your life it makes you think. And I
had a lot of time to think in there. It made me grateful for what I
had. Even the thought of buying an icecream or a can of Coke seemed
like paradise," he said.

Bojko, 36, was sentenced to 50 years' jail after being arrested at
Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport in February, 1991, with 960
grams of heroin, worth $1.3 million, strapped to his body.

He was incarcerated at Bang Kwang Jail, known locally as the Big Tiger
because it is said to eat up its prisoners, before he was granted a
pardon last week for an undisclosed terminal illness.

Bojko said he spent every day in prison regretting his decision to try
to smuggle drugs into Thailand.

"It was the first time I had ever done it. I got suckered into it.
Things were going good for me (before that). I had a job as a water
boiler maker, had a house and everything, but I just got sick of it
all, restless," he said.

"It didn't start off as much, smoking grass and stuff in Perth. I just
got caught up in it all. Pretty soon they (drug dealers) were telling
me how easy trafficking heroin was that there were no problems. I was
led to believe in it all. They snookered me.

"I suppose it was greed as well. I had everything I could want. But,
as a guy, it was never enough. I wanted bigger and better."

Bojko said he endured cells infested with bugs, disease, hunger and
degradation during his time in the Thailand prison system.

He spent two years shackled in chains in solitary confinement, before
being released into the general prison population to face Nigerian
drug gangs and violence.

At one stage, his weight fell to 40kg with the effects of cancer
tuberculosis, appendix and kidney problems and ulcers.

He said drug use was rife and there were no safety measures or
adequate hospital treatment to prevent, or treat, diseases including
HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis.

Bojko, who is thin with rotting teeth, was released on medical grounds
last Friday, his mother's birthday, after applying for early release
about three months ago.

He spent four days undergoing immigration and health checks before
being allowed to leave Thailand.

Bojko said he was thrilled to be back home.

"I still can't believe it. It's great. Thailand is supposed to be the
land a nightmare. I'm banned from going back, but I wouldn't set foot
in the place again anyway. There is no looking back for me," he said.

Bojko plans to return to his hometown of Moe today to see his elderly
mother.

"My mum didn't think she would see me before she died."

of smiles. There was none for me. It's a land of drugs, prostitution
and corruption.