Thonglor police today are in the process of asking Interpol to reactivate a red notice for Red Bull heir Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya after the Bangkok Criminal Court approved a new warrant for his arrest.
A month after public fury erupted over word the last charges against Vorayuth had been dropped in secret, Lt. Col. Thanawut Sangunsuk of the Thonglor Police Station confirmed that they were working with the force’s Foreign Affairs Division and Immigration Bureau to reissue a Red Notice eight years after he struck and killed one of its officers.
He said the three charges on the warrant approved yesterday by the court were reckless fatal driving, failure to stop and render aid and a narcotics count. While the first two were among a raft of charges that expired or were dropped since 2012, Thanwut said the drug charge was added due to evidence that the cocaine in Vorayuth’s system did not, to no one’s surprise, come from a dentist.
There’s been tremendous pressure for prosecutors, police, and top officials to find a way to resurrect the case against Vorayuth after it was quietly dropped in June.
Interpol previously posted a Red Notice for Vorayuth in 2017. Far from an international arrest warrant, Red Notices have no legal force and simply serve to notify participating law enforcement agencies that someone is wanted.
In 2012, Vorayuth struck Sgt. Maj. Wichian Klanprasert with his Ferrari and fled the scene to his home, dragging the officer’s body under his car for part of the way. Cocaine and alcohol were found in his system. The wealthy son of a powerful family, Vorayuth refused police summons to appear and eventually fled the country when charges were filed against him.
Immigration Bureau chief Sompong Chingduang today also told reporters that they would definitely arrest Vorayuth if he entered Thailand and would do whatever they can to help bring him back.
Similar assurances have come and gone over the years, with the case seeming to lose all momentum the moment attention has turned elsewhere.
Vorayuth has been a fugitive from justice for eight years in a case held up as the prime example of the impunity enjoyed by Thailand’s wealthiest. Though he admitted to killing the Thonglor policeman, he fled the country and has since been spotted jet-setting around the globe, sometimes attending Red Bull racing events.
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