A former Pattaya police volunteer wanted for extortion and bribery charges was arrested by Chonburi immigration police after returning to the city under a false identity.
Jesper Kongerskov Hansen, now using the alias Leon Christiansen, was apprehended at the Jomtien Beach immigration office while trying to renew his visa Nov. 24.
Jesper Kongerskov Hansen (left) has been remanded in custody to face extortion and bribery charges.
Hansen, 51, was wanted on a 2012 arrest warrant for allegedly extorting 800,000 baht from an American man arrested for molesting a young boy and also trying to pay a Pattaya policeman some of the proceeds to get the case against the accused pedophile dismissed.
Unbeknownst to the then-police volunteer, the American recorded the extortion bid and filed a police complaint afterward.
Pattaya police prosecuted Hansen, obtaining an arrest warrant into 2012, after the investigator in the abuse case refused to accept the bribe allegedly offered by Hansen.
Hansen fled the country shortly after.
Despite the outstanding warrant, Hansen returned to Thailand after obtaining a new passport with a different name and then renting a condominium here.
Immigration officials, however, had been tipped off to Hansen’s new identity and had prepared a new arrest warrant on Nov. 6 and waited for him to appear to make the arrest.
