Updated: Pirate Bay Founder Fredrik Neij Arrested in Asia

Following the criminal convictions of Pirate Bay founders Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, each went their separate ways.

With Sunde in Europe and Svartholm then living in Cambodia, Neij moved to Asia to be with his Lao wife and their children.

As documented in the movie TPB:AFK, Neij and his family settled in Laos after getting married in a local ceremony. The country is one of the world’s few remaining communist states and is one of east Asia’s poorest countries with poor communications infrastructure and lacking healthcare system.

As a result, on several occasions the family has crossed the border into Thailand. That has proven problematic in the past, especially when the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok revoked Neij’s passport in 2012. Yesterday, however, things took a turn for the worse when police at the border in Nong Khai, a city in North-East Thailand, arrested Neij as he tried to drive across the border.

Early this morning Nong Khai Immigration police held a press conference to announce Neji’s arrest, parading him in front of the media flanked by several officers.

Thai border police had executed an Interpol arrest warrant similar to the one issued against Peter Sunde before his arrest in Sweden. According to Thai authorities, Neij and his wife had crossed the border an estimated 27 times before finally being caught.

If their press conference is anything to go by, Thai authorities appear to be making a big thing of Neij’s arrest. While trumpeting the alleged damages the Pirate Bay founders have caused the entertainment industries, Thai authorities used the arrest as a photo opportunity, posing for the camera and in some cases even smiling aside a bewildered-looking Neij.

According to local media, Neij is now being held in the Bangkok immigration office pending deportation to Sweden. The 36-year-old’s arrest completes the full set, with all Pirate Bay founders now in custody.

Gottfrid Svartholm, whose story is particularly well known, had moved to Cambodia. He was extradited back to Sweden in 2012 to face not only his original sentence, but two major hacking trials, one on home soil and the other in Denmark. He was found guilty in the latter last week and is now serving a three-and-a-half year sentence.

Peter Sunde is also in custody, having been captured on May 31, 2014 on a farm in Skåne, Sweden. The former Pirate Bay spokesman’s time in prison has also been eventful, but is very close to coming to an end.

Update: Local Thai media reports that “U.S. movie companies” hired a lawfirm to track down Neij. It’s also been revealed that in addition to having a house on the island of Phuket, Neij had five million baht ($153,000) in a local bank account.

Update 2: Video just in:

Update: 3: A video has appeared on The Pirate Bay which appears to instruct people not to talk to the police.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.