Nzemeka Ezims’s arrest, based on a warrant issued in February by the Samut Prakan Court, took place on September 13 at a highway police checkpoint on the Bangkok-Chon Buri motorway’s sixth kilometre marker in the capital’s Prawet district.

Police accused Ezims of running a money-laundering business by exporting goods to Africa and providing an underground money-exchange service.

The arrest warrant was issued for the romantic scam the man reportedly involved in from June to September 2018, which led to 13 victims losing a combined Bt2.9 million, said Pol Colonel Sathit Prom-uthai, a deputy commander for investigation with the Immigration Police.

Since the bank accounts used in the crime were linked and led to the arrest of a Thai woman who withdrew cash to wire to other members of the gang, police were able to zero in on five Nigerians, including Ezims, and five Thais.