The well-known and much loved Thai based travel blogger Richard Barrow is looking at a lengthy stretch behind bars if he is found guilty of charges filed against him for violating the Computer Crimes Act.

According to Channel 69 News, Mr Barrow, the self-appointed spokesperson for all expats in the Kingdom, was apprehended by four men in black at his luxury penthouse apartment in Samut Prakan in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, there are no photographs of the blogger in bracelets due to poor visibility caused by the dense smog in the area but one eyewitness claimed he was in tears, screaming “Do you know who I am?”.

Trouble came knocking for The Barrow, as he is affectionately known by his army of followers, when he came to the attention of the governor for Nakon Nowhere who was not impressed with continued non-travel tweets about smog, masks, air purifiers, planned protests, and environmental issues that seen him demanding the Twitterati buy metal straws and stop using plastic bags.

A spokesman for Governor Kittikat Chumpton, who is also on the Tourism Authority of Thailand board, told Channel 69 News that this sort of thing wasn’t on and not what TAT were handing over stuffed envelopes for every month.

“There will be no more envelopes. That’s finished. This man is damaging the good image of Thailand, ruining the tourism industry he’s handsomely paid to promote and endangering the livelihoods of thousands with demands to boycott bags and straws”.

It was reported Barrow denied all the charges citing the 330 drone photos of various places around the country he’s Tweeted in 2018, the 157 temples shots he’d shared and the 90 odd images of the various Thai dishes he’s eaten for lunch over the past three months plus the dozens of posters for mediocre events taking place as clear evidence he is indeed a travel blogger.

At the time of publishing #FreeTheBarrow was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in Thailand.

*** CHECK THE DATE – It is April 1st today and yes this “news item” was just a bit of fun following in the tradition of April Fools Day prank articles.

Richard isn’t in any trouble with the law and took the joke in the spirit it was intended. ***

Thanks for featuring me in this April’s Fools joke. I’m flattered. — Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow_) April 1, 2018







