After receiving a tip-off about a suspicious foreigner, police did a background check and found that Guido James Egliti was a wanted man.
They obtained an order from the national police to revoke his visa and arrested him in a hotel lobby, Crime Suppression Division (CSD) deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Annop Prasongsuk said.
Egliti has been accused of conspiring with others in April 2009 to abduct a 58-year-old man, detaining him at a house in Annerley, Queensland, and trying to extort money from him. However, the victim escaped, which led to the gang’s arrest, CSD deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Chai Sanguansin said.
He then allegedly jumped bail and fled to Cambodia where he reportedly committed a similar crime resulting in arrest. He once again allegedly jumped bail and fled to Thailand, Annop said.
A source reported that Egliti was allegedly the leader of a gang that had abducted people wanted for sexual offences many times while claiming to be police.
Egliti told police that he had been prosecuted and served time in Australia, after which he went to Cambodia. He admitted that he and his friends had committed a similar crime there, adding that he served another year in prison, according to police.
The suspect told police that he had not known that he was wanted in Australia.
Thai police have charged Egliti with abduction, illegal detention and theft according to the Interpol warrant and contacted Australia to extradite him.

The bomb, planted in a 20-kilogram cooking gas cylinder, went off at 7.45am on Phetchkasem Highway (Pattani-Narathiwat) in Ban Eyo Moo 5 in Tambon Bareh Neu.
The injured solider was identified as Senior Chief Petty Officer Theerapong Makren.
Police believe the attack was part of the ongoing unrest in the region.

Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general of the Department of Business Development, said the agency will work with the Thai retailers’ association to market milled rice using e-commerce websites and social media such as Facebook and Instagram to tap Thai and foreign buyers. Domestic paddy prices have dropped to the lowest level in about a decade, averaging at Bt5,000 to 6,000 per tonne, which is too low for farmers to make a profit. As for social media and online channels, she said, the agency will use its own website, ThaiCommerceStore.com, as the main platform featuring special banners advertising Thai milled rice and other rice and related products.
Those farmers who have their own website can add their link to this platform so visitors from across the world can reach the farmers’ sites. Farmers who do not have their own website, but use social media such as Facebook and Instagram can have their own social media links on the ThaiCommerceStore.com website.
As for farmers who have neither a website or a social media link, they can leave information on their rice products as well as their contact numbers at the ThaiCommerceStore.com, so visitors can reach the sellers directly if they are interested in the products.
In addition, she said, the department has initiated the setting up of a prototype of a retail outlet as an offline sales and marketing channel for rice farmers. The farmers will be able to use this space to sell packaged rice and other products directly.
Those who have the potential to tap the foreign market, another Commerce Ministry website called Thaitrade.com will serve as a platform for social organisations and business associations etc to help farmers sell their products online.
Former premier Yingluck Shina-watra has been using her social media fanpage to promote the sale of rice as well as cooking events where rice and related products are used as key ingredients. Her menus include popular dishes from the North and Northeast.
Meanwhile, police are on the hunt for Nopjorn Panni-yom, who has been accused by actress Akumsiri “Juk-Jun” Suwansuk of allegedly luring many people, including the actress’s fans, to buy rice via Instagram. Akumsiri claims the suspect did not deliver the goods once the payment was made.

The explosion occurred at 6.20pm in Moo 3 ville of Tambon Piya Mumang. The five wounded persons were identified as Santi Wangnurak, 31; Suchada Phrompakdee, 33; Yutthakan Chunet, Amornmat Chandee, and para-military ranger volunteer Wannapol Rungsuwan. Earlier at 6pm, it was reported that unknown assailants threw an explosive to a shop near Wat Mujalin Tawapiwihan in Tambon Tuyong of Nong Chik district but it didn’t go off. Security officers were inspecting both scenes as of press time.

The bill seeks to address the plight of farmers with low capital and little power to bargain when sealing contracts with agro business giants.
It’s also a positive sign that the ruling junta values social equity and justice, since a huge number of Thais in the agricultural sector are currently losing out in striking bargains with large firms.
Thai farmers having been working under contracts with Agro firms for almost five decades now. In return they are offered fixed prices for crops or livestock cultivated or reared in line with agreed production processes.
The practice spread across the country as globalisation took hold and end-consumers worldwide demanded that products in shops meet the same international standards.
Contract farming has potential to be a win-win situation, with companies getting a guaranteed quality and amount of produce to sell, and farmers receiving a guaranteed income as well as access to raw materials paid for on credit.
And indeed the practice has been a boon for some farmers, protecting them from harsh market realities of supply and demand. But too often in Thailand we see cases of farmers failing to meet the terms of their contracts after falling victim to factors such as inclement weather, outbreaks of disease, natural disasters, or even the poor quality of raw materials supplied by the contracting company.
A minority of contract farmers, however, are responsible for producing the majority of Thailand’s agricultural produce under just a handful of agro companies, leading to a level of market dominance.
The draft bill under consideration would regulate contract farming based on fairness, contract standards, registration of agricultural businesses, and dispute settlement.
Agricultural and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya says that the bill would protect farmers against conglomerates and ensure fairness in contract farming, which would improve the country’s economy in the long term.
His words appear to be an admission that something has wrong in our society and that the government has had to step in to protect some of its most vulnerable members – farmers.
“If we support contract farming with a law to regulate the system for more fairness in line with international standards, it will increase our potential, make our agriculture more sustainable and give farmers financial stability,” Chatchai said.
The law is also aimed at protecting the rights of the contracting companies.
Firms and farmers who violate the new law will be punished with a fine of between Bt200,000 and Bt1 million and/or jailed for a maximum of two years.
If the bill is passed, the contract-farming system has potential to curb the huge public budget currently used to subsidise rice farming.