From being a familiar face on Australian television, to chiropractor, to drugs busts in Sihanoukville – it’s a pretty steep decline over a couple of decades. The star of the iconic Australian tv commercials for soft drink Solo, Mark Coutelas, 57, has been arrested by military police in his Sihanoukville guesthouse on drugs charges.
The 57-year-old appeared at Preah Sihanouk provincial court on Tuesday and was charged with the unlawful keeping, transporting or trafficking of narcotics. He is being held in Preah Sihanouk prison and will face trial at a later date. Court spokesman Lim Bunheng said Coutelas ‘admitted’ to previously being sentenced to two years imprisonment in Thailand for ‘drug trafficking’.
Coutelas was previously arrested in Phuket in 2014 on similar offences, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
After being released, he was expelled from Thailand and seems to have arrived in Cambodia in 2016, setting up a business called Back Pain Solutions, based on his post-television career as a chiropractor.
Earlier this year he posted in his personal Facebook account: ‘Living in Sihanoukville Cambodia at this minute in Phnom Pehn. I LOVE CHANG CLUB!!! I miss you buddy. Me blacklist (sic) for (sic) Thailand 110 years (sic).’