Until recently, only two of the three The Pirate Bay co-founders were in police custody: Peter Sunde was arrested in Sweden this past May, while Gottfrid Svartholm was just sentenced to 3.5 years. And yesterday, a third co-founder, Fredrik Neij, was arrested while trying to cross the border into Thailand.
As Tech in Asia reports, Neij fled Sweden after a court convicted him of contributing to copyright infringement in 2009. The AP reports that Neij has been living in Laos since 2012. That same year, the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok revoked his passport; however, he's allegedly travelled to Thailand around thirty times since then. The AP adds that Neij has a bank account in Thailand with 5 million baht ($153,000).
According to Torrent Freak, the Thai media is reporting that "U.S. movie companies" had hired an attorney to locate Neij. The AP says he was arrested under an Interpol warrant.
"It might have been a coincidence, but he was wearing the same gray T-shirt that was in the photo. The immigration police officer who spotted him in the car recognized him, so he pulled his car over," the regional Thai police commissioner told The AP.
As you can see in this photo (via Torrent Freak), the Thai police then brought Neij out in front of the cameras in a somewhat surreal photo op. Neij had been the last of the Pirate Bay co-founders to avoid police custody.
Pirate Bay co-founder arrested at Thai-Lao border [AP]
Game over: last Pirate Bay founder caught by Thai police [Tech in Asia]
UPDATED: PIRATE BAY FOUNDER FREDRIK NEIJ ARRESTED IN ASIA [Torrent Freak]
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