[1][2][3] According to the US DEA, Berglund was the leader of a criminal organization manufacturing and trafficking drugs which comprised members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and their associates.
[6] His operations were conducted continuously from at least 2002 until his arrest in 2010 and were described by authorities as being run like a regular business with company accounts and salaries paid to employees at the end of each month.
[8] He spent eight years and seven months in some of the world's most notorious prisons such as Bombat Piset, Bangkwang and Klong Prem before being transferred to Sweden to serve the remainder of his sentence.
[12] After his own hopes of a career in ice hockey were ended by injury, he turned his focus to body building and worked as a bouncer at various night clubs in his hometown.
Berglund is believed to have started his criminal career as an ordinary drug mule and was arrested in 2002 at Arlanda Airport attempting to smuggle two full suitcases of anabolic steroids from Greece.
[5] However, despite the seriousness of the offenses, Berglund and his associates were conditionally released after 4 months in solitary confinement due to the complexity of the laws and regulations applying to the method of seizure and the investigative procedure used relating to anabolic steroids.
Beginning in 2008, Berglund significantly expanded his business operations by developing a major smuggling network distributing counterfeit cigarettes originating in China to Sweden, the United Kingdom and Egypt.
[14] However, during this time and up until January 2010 Berglund had been working as a construction manager in the Swedish-Thai company Thai Hem, building and selling "dream homes" to Scandinavians in Thailand.
[16] Court documents reveal that Lilius had previously been involved in a major drug manufacturing syndicate in San Diego believed to be operating on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel.
Lilius assisted to set up a laboratory in Berglund's Rayong home and manufactured a sample of methamphetamine with the aim of getting Berglund arrested in Thailand where he would face a mandatory death penalty for the manufacture of narcotics, summarily imposed by a compliant court in a jurisdiction where the criminal justice system operates without due process or human rights protections.
[20] The Swedish journalist, Gregers Møller, was present as a translator at Berglund's post-arrest interview by police and wrote a first hand account of the proceedings.
[25][26] When pressed by the US DEA to give up his business associates, Berglund refused to co-operate in any way that could have benefited him and pleaded innocent at his trial, despite the mandatory death penalty if convicted.
[27] The joint operation resulted in the confiscation of US$2 million worth of property in Berglund's possession at the time of his arrest on 14 July 2010 at his home in Rayong, Thailand.
[11] The Sundsvalls Tidning reported that, "Nils-Eric Schultz claims that Kim Berglund is right, that he was subjected to a criminal provocation in Thailand which is illegal in Sweden, and that he is therefore entitled to compensation.
[30] Oredsson successfully sued the Swedish authorities for his 3 years and 5 months imprisonment during the Operation Playa investigation and was awarded 3 million kronor in damages.
Berglund's case is being assisted by the former state prosecutor, Nils-Eric Shultz,[24] now a senior advisor to the Swedish law firm, Scheiman Advokatbyrå.