Kiwi caught with drugs in Phuket also wanted back home

The New Zealander caught in Phuket on meth and cocaine possession charges on Christmas Eve is also wanted in his home country on credit card fraud charges, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The man, named by Patong police as Taylor Grainge, was arrested last week after police caught him with 1.2g of methamphetamine and 0.95g of cocaine, enough to merit a charge of possession with intent to sell.

The Herald reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has identified the man as Grainge Taylor. It also goes on the report that he was originally known in New Zealand as Grainge Marriott Madgwick and officially changed his surname to Tayler – believed to be his wife’s surname – after police began investigating allegations of credit card fraud against him in 2010.

He left the country the following month under his new name, before a warrant was issued for his arrest in August 2012.

“The warrant was issued due to Mr Madgwick failing to appear on a number of fraud-related charges,” a police spokesman told The New Zealand Herald, confirming that the warrant is still active.

Madgewick, as he was then, allegedly got hold of te credit card details of friends or relatives and then applied online for secondary cards – as many as 10 of them.

He then spent more than NZ$100,000 (B2.5 million) on the cards, with the amounts being charged to the primary card holder.

His case sparked an overhaul of Westpac’s online credit card application process.

Read the original New Zealand Herald story here.

Phuket News

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