Regional Immigration Police Commissioner Maj. Gen. Chartchai Eimsaeng said that a Thai lawyer was hired by a movie association headquartered in the U.S. to search for Fredrik Neij whose photo was held by the Nong Khai immigration police officers. Chartchai said that the Interpol-wanted Swede had been living in Laos since 2012 and has been going to and out of Thailand for almost 30 times. It was learned that Neij has a house at Phuket, a resort island, and maintains a savings account of 5 million baht, equivalent to $153,000.

For several years, the U.S. movie and music industries have taken strong legal moves against The Pirate Bay. The site, along with the other sites being pursued, is said to provide illegal distribution of infringed material which causes original producers to lose revenues.

"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," said Chartchai.

Neij, who uses the alias TiAMO, was in the car with his wife when he was spotted by the immigration officers at a checkpoint in Nong Khai, a northeastern province in Thailand. They were reportedly out to do some shopping.

Neij's arrest in Southeast Asia was the second in the region following the arrest of co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg who was arrested in the neighboring Southeast Asian country of Cambodia in 2012. Warg, who used the alias 'Anakata' over the Internet, was sent back to Sweden after being issued with an international arrest warrant. He will eventually be joined by Neij who is now scheduled to be transported back to Sweden, according to his lawyer Jonas Nilsson.

Warg, who served his sentence that dealt with copyright infringement, also had to face a hacking charge in Denmark. Last week, a Danish court sentenced him a prison term of 3 and a half years after being proven guilty of hacking into a privately-owned company that handles sensitive data for Danish authorities.

Neij and three of his Pirate Bay associates were charged with copyright violation by a Swedish court in 2009 and were each sentenced to one year imprisonment. They were also obliged to pay the damage fees of 46 million kronor ($6.5 million) to the entertainment industry. They went on an appeal but it was denied by the high court of Sweden. Neij fled the country after he was released by posting bail.

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