Interpol Issues 'Red Notice' for Red Bull Heir

It's an international request for his arrest
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 28, 2017 5:05 PM CDT
Interpol Issues 'Red Notice' for Red Bull Heir
In this April 5, 2017, photo, Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, whose grandfather co-founded energy drink company Red Bull, walks to get in a car as he leaves a house in London.    (Matt Dunham)

Interpol has issued an international request for the arrest of the billionaire heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, stepping up of the hunt for the fugitive Thai playboy wanted in a 2012 hit-and-run incident that left a traffic policeman dead in Bangkok, the AP reports. Thai police spokesman Col. Krissana Pattanacharoen said Monday that his department had been notified by the international police network of the "Red Notice," a worldwide request to find and provisionally arrest an individual, pending extradition. Vorayuth Yoovidhya skipped Thailand at the end of April, just before authorities issued an arrest warrant after he repeatedly failed to meet with prosecutors since the September 2012 crash. He flew to Singapore on one of the family's private jets. His trail has since gone cold.

The Red Notice goes out to all 190 Interpol member countries. Among other measures, it alerts border officials, in theory making international travel more likely to result in arrest. In May, the authorities in Bangkok cancelled Vorayuth's Thai passport. Vorayuth, 32, is a grandson of the Thai co-founder of the Red Bull brand, the world's most popular energy drink. It's believed he was at the wheel of a Ferrari that struck a policeman on motorbike patrol on a main road in central Bangkok and dragged him under its wheels. The car then sped off, leaving the officer to die at the scene. Police followed a trail of oil and brake fluid to the Yoovidhya's luxury family compound on a nearby side road. His failure to keep appointments with prosecutors means they have been unable to charge him. At the same time, Thailand's statute of limitations is removing what charges he can face. (More Vorayuth Yoovidhya stories.)

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