Many news reports in Thailand carry a story of a German man who is to be deported for helping his Thai wife selling BBQ chicken in Isaan. Chief of the immigration Bureau, Pol Lt-General Sompong Chingduang said that Maximillian Fernsebner who received many praises online from many Thais for giving his Thai wife a hand to earn some money is, in fact, a wanted man in Germany, his native country for alleged criminal activities.
After this photograph went viral on social media in May aiding his Thai wife, selling BBQ chicken just outside a factory Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima. Which by the way, it is very unusual for a foreigner to be working in a low wage job in Thailand. You will stick out like a sore thumb, and that is why people took photos of you. Then immigration might run a check up on you, just like this guy, because, you need a work permit and two, people will start to ask a question such as: why is he doing a low-income job in Thailand? Does he have enough income to stay in the country? In this case, he was allegedly wanted in Germany for illegal activities.
Checks were done by Thai Immigration officials on the 34-year old’s state of immigration. They found that an arrest warrant was issued for Fernsebner by Interpol in 2017.
It was after Fernsebner first moved to Thailand that he was issued a warrant and according to officials after he was all over social media when immigration discovered his alleged former criminal acts.
Fernsebner had stayed in Pattaya for a while before moving to Pak Chong, his wife’s home town where he thought he could live out of sight for a while in the rural area of Isaan. This was just before the picture of him selling BBQ chicken spread like wildfire.
According to the report of Thai media, the German man was running from the Thai police for about two days after they had tracked his whereabouts. He went into a forest to hide and even hid underwater using a plastic pipe to breathe. He surrendered himself on the third day, and his Thai wife said social media was responsible for the arrest of her foreign husband. She explained that he would not have been arrested if a photograph of him wasn’t taking while he was selling BBQ chicken with her. She further went on to say that she had been helping her mother run her BBQ stall while she was ill and her husband gave a hand.
