Thai music icon Sek Loso sentenced to nearly three years in prison

The Thai Supreme court has sent one of the country’s most prominent music icons to prison on gun possession and drugs charges.

Sek Loso, founder and lead vocalist of rock band Loso, was convicted on Tuesday of illegally possessing a gun, using drugs and obstructing a police officer.

Loso, whose real name is Seksan Sukpimai, was arrested in 2017 from his home in Nakhon Si Thammarat city, in the south of Thailand, for firing a gun into the air after a concert.

Loso reportedly resisted arrest and threatened to shoot the policemen who had entered his house, forcing them to call in a specialist unit, according to The Nation.

In court, it was revealed that Loso owned an automatic gun with registered ammunition but had no licence.

Loso claimed to suffer from a bipolar disorder, but the court rejected this defence and ruled that he had been well aware of his actions.

The court ordered Loso to serve two years, 12 months and 20 days in jail.

The musician, 50, posted a message on his Instagram with pictures of three checks made out to his children, Pattaya Mail reported. His oldest, Tiger, received 2m baht (£45,475) and the younger children, Deer and London, were given 1mn baht (£22,737) each for use as emergency funds.

Loso rose to fame in the 1990s as the frontman of his band, becoming one of Thailand’s most celebrated rock musicians. The band is credited with reshaping the Thai music scene with its gritty guitar-driven sound and unvarnished lyrics.

Formed in 1994, the band named itself Loso, as a tongue-in-cheek response to Thailand’s elite “hi-so” culture, reflecting its band’s humble, working-class origins.

Loso’s second album Entertainment ended up selling over two million copies, earning landmark status in Thai rock history, and even gaining a certain amount of international recognition, with performances at festivals including Glastonbury and South by Southwest.