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A British man has been arrested for attempting to blackmail the superstore giant Tesco in the United Kingdom via e-mails sent from a Bangkok internet cafe, police reported Friday.
Stephan Alexander, 36, is alleged to have threatened to poison food in Tesco‘s British stores unless he was paid 2 million pounds (US$ 4 million), was brought in for questioning and arrested late Thursday. British police quickly traced the e-mails to an internet cafe sent late May from Soi Nana, Sukhumvit Road Soi 4, a busy red-light district of Bangkok, according to the Thai Crime Suppression Bureau's Lt Col Chakrit Lamjangpan.
Chakrit said that video footage from the cafe's security camera showed that the only customer at the time the e-mails were sent was a large Caucasian male wearing a white t-shirt and glasses. The emails were signed "John Smith."
Scotland Yard detectives flew to Thailand to assist the Thai police and they were able to confront Alexander outside the cafe when he repeated the threat on Wednesday. He denied any wrongdoing.
Police searched his apartment and also spoke to his wife.
Alexander Winstone, 36, from Hertfordshire County was arrested Thursday night . On Friday , he acknowledged his actions and said he was sorry at a conference. He as he was leaving the Internet cafe he used to allegedly send the threatening e-mail to Tesco's headquarters in England on May 21.
”Of course I now realize that my actions were very wrong and I did not wish to commit any crime here in Thailand,” he said. “I offer my sincere apologies for my actions and for having caused the problems here.”
”What I did was very misguided, a silly idea that I took too far. I would like to stress that it was never my intention to cause anybody any harm or hurt,” he said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Isaraphan Sanitwongse said that Winstone's actions appeared to be financially motivated. If tried in a Thai court, the suspect faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for attempted extortion, Isaraphan said. Thailand currently has no laws specifically covering crimes committed in cyberspace.
Isaraphan said Thai authorities would try to prosecute the case unless their British counterparts requested Winstone's extradition. In that case, they would have to reconsider what to do, he said.
Andy Pearce, the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Thailand, who was at the press conference, said it was too early to say if Britain would ask for extradition, and that the case could be expected to proceed in Thailand.
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