Immigration Police officers stationed at Phuket International Airport reported the arrest of a man on an outstanding warrant this Tuesday (Oct 24). The suspect, who was apprehended around 11.30am, was not identified in the report, and no additional information was provided except that he would be transferred to Pattaya Court for further legal action.
The man’s identity was disclosed by the Matichon website on Thursday (Oct 26). The well-known Thai news outlet posted the same photo as Phuket Immigration and identified the man as Selby Dean Freeman, a 40-year-old New Zealand national. Phuket Immigration then shared Matichon’s report on its Facebook page.
According to Matichon, Mr Freeman arrived in Phuket from Singapore and was apprehended on warrant No. 838/2009 issued in Pattaya on Aug 25, 2009.
In January that year, the New Zealand man was charged with Category 1 drug possession but fled after having been released on bail, Matichon explained.
The Aug 25 warrant thus included charges of both illegal drug possession and fleeing prosecution.
It was not explained why Mr Freeman decided to visit Thailand again 14 years later. Yet all the information about him and biometric data were in the database, leading to his arrest.
Mr Freeman’s arrest in Phuket was not his first since fleeing Thailand to evade prosecution in 2009. Several other cases have been reported by foreign media since then.
In August 2017, The Cambodia Daily reported that Selby Dean Freeman (34 years old at that time) was arrested in Cambodia when he applied to renew his visa.
Having checked the man’s identity, officials discovered that he had been wanted by Malaysian authorities since 2012 for illegal drugs.
According to Cambodian officials, Mr Freeman had been charged in Malaysia but somehow managed to flee to Cambodia. The Cambodia Daily said that the New Zealand man, who also possessed a British passport, would be "deported".
"Cambodian police are currently filing paperwork for his deportation and have alerted Malaysian authorities of his impending return," the newspaper said, citing a local official.
Nothing was reported about Mr Freeman’s transfer to Malaysian authorities, but some three years later, the man emerged in Kenya.
In early 2020, The Standard reported that Selby Dean Freeman was arrested in Mombasa for drug possession. The report identified the suspect as a British national who also held a Swiss passport and was "wanted by Seychelles and Malaysian police."
According to The Standard, Mr Freeman was arrested on Jan 11, 2023, after being found in possession of 11.9 grams of cocaine and 355.3 grams of cannabis.
Mr Freeman was "denied bond by a Mombasa court after he was charged with trafficking narcotics," The Standard said. Nothing was reported about the development of the case.
The next known appearance of Mr Freeman in criminal news was in the Matichon’s publication about his arrest in Phuket on Oct 26, 2023.