Serial killer Sobhraj released after 19 years in jail
This airline passenger is terrified of his seat neighbours
In the 1970s, Frenchman Charles Soubraj made a killing following the hippie trail in Asia. He spent decades in prison. In a machine for freedom, he was in good spirits. The person sitting next to him felt completely different.
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VISIBLE DISCOMFORT: A young woman looks worriedly at the man sitting next to her on the flight that flew convicted serial killer Charles Sopraj from Kathmandu to Doha on Friday.
The photo speaks volumes: French serial killer Charles Soubraj (78) is said to have killed at least 20 tourists in South and Southeast Asia. He was jailed for 19 years in Kathmandu for two murders in Nepal, which he still denies. Now he is free again. In Flight to Freedom, he appears healthy and relaxed. Not so his seat neighbours.
Sobraj was released on Friday – and immediately deported. A photo shows him in tourist class on a Qatar Airways scheduled flight. An unknown young fellow passenger beside him looks worriedly at her neighbor. Meanwhile, she might have been told who the old man was. He is one of the most notorious killers of modern times – deliberately sober.
On a Qatar flight that would take him to Paris via Doha on Saturday morning, Sobhraj told a journalist: “I feel good. I have a lot to do. I have a lot of people to sue. Even the state of Nepal.” He was illegally convicted and imprisoned.
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Sobhraj has a lot on his plate. He pretended to be an intelligent and cultured gem dealer and befriended his victims. Many were western backpackers on the 70s hippie trail. Sobharaj robbed and killed them by drugging them. His first alleged victim was a young American woman in 1975. Her body was found on the beach in a bikini. Hence the nickname “Bikini Killer”.
In 1986, Sobhraj escaped from India’s notorious Tihar Jail, one of the largest detention centers in South Asia. Convicted killer drugged guards with cakes laced with biscuits and sleeping pills. He was recaptured shortly after.
After his release in 1997, he lived in Paris and gave bragging interviews. He returned to Nepal in 2003. By chance he was spotted playing baccarat in a casino. “The Serpent,” Netflix debuts in 2021, “The Snake,” a series dedicated to the serial killer. (case)
“Wannabe pop culture fanatic. Zombie advocate. Entrepreneur. Internet evangelist. Alcohol fanatic. Typical travel buff.”
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