London, 5th February 2016
A fugitive blogger wanted on charges laid under Thailand's Computer Crimes Act in Thailand is to face questioning in the United Kingdom under Prevention of Harassment Laws.
Andrew Michael Drummond, who has four outstanding arrest warrants in Thailand will now face questioning by UK police following complaints being made to Police Scotland, who have referred the matter to their counterparts in England.
Officers from Thailand's Technical Crime Suppression Division are also cooperating following complaints made by Brian Goudie and members of his family.
It is thought that the delivery of a series of letters by post in the UK set off the Police Scotland investigation
Police have been told that supporters of Drummond have been creating fake Facebook profiles and sending hundreds of comments and emails as well as making over one thousand crank calls.
Drummond absconded whilst on bail for Computer Crimes Charges in Thailand, but has always claimed that as his blog is UK registered that Thai laws did not apply, however since January 2015 Drummond has operated his blog from the UK.
Drummond's details, along with with the details of four other individuals have been supplied to police.
Two suspect shave been positively identified and are thought to be in the UK, a further male suspect is thought to be in Thailand and TCSD officers are said to be in the process of obtaining arrest warrants.
Drummond is thought to be bitter about being forced to leave Thailand where he had spent twenty five years working as a freelance journalist, but the articles written on his blog caught up with him when he was convicted in Pattaya Provincial Court and by the Supreme Court of Thailand, and courts in Pattaya and Koh Samui issued arrest warrants for him.
In addition to the harassment investigation, a UK expat in Thailand is set to be arrested for allegedly in Thailand planning to assault Goudie, a fact that he stupidly discussed on Facebook.
The harassment is said to have arisen from Goudie being involved in a number of court cases in Thailand, and from Goudie prosecuting Drummond in the Thai Courts.
A spokesperson for Goudie said yesterday:
' It is time for the harassment to stop, and let the police and courts do their work.
These people are acting like vigilantes and a great number of persons involved know nothing of the facts, believing only of course what Drummond writes.
Our Client has been fielding twenty telephone calls a day for months on end and identifying and has reported multiple face Facebook profiles,
The harassment has moved from the internet now and our client and his family in the UK have been physically threatened, therefore it is time for the UK police to act.
These people are trying to take the law into their own hands, when they have nothing to do with the court proceedings.
Unlike Drummond who states he fled Thailand due to threats my family and I will take the correct course of action which is to have Police Scotland and their Thai counterparts deal with this matter."
andrew drummond
computer crimes act thailand
cyberharassment
malicious communications
prevention of harassment
0 comments:
Post a Comment