A 34-year-old German fugitive has been caught after pictures of him working a food stall in Thailand went viral. Maximilian Fernsebner had been hiding out in Thailand after he took off running over drug trafficking charges in Germany, reports Coconuts. Interpol had been looking for the man since 2017. He had been living a quiet life as a roadside chicken food stall vendor in Northeastern Thailand with his wife. However, customers started recording the man and the local media picked it up. As a result, the Thai immigration office ran a check on him which sent up red flags.

Thailand Media

“After the pictures blew up, many news publications started calling us for the name of the German,” Col. Chatchawan Tipichai told Coconuts. “Since we didn’t know who he was either, we sent pictures o the German embassy. That’s when they told us, ‘Hey this guy’s wanted!'”

Maximilian Fernsebner reentered Thailand illegally after he left the country in 2017.

“When he entered the country in 2017, the Interpol warrant had not been forwarded to us yet,” Chatchawan said. “When we finally got it last year, he was already in Thailand, but because he did it illegally, he is not in the system. So we didn’t know he was here.”

Thailand Media

His photos and videos went viral around May after his 26-year-old wife Pawanee “Nan” Sricheai told local media that he was helping out at her mother’s food stall after she became sick.

When immigration officers went to arrest Fernsebner at Sricheai’s house, he was gone after he was tipped off. Officers looked for him for over a month but it wasn’t until the end of June until they got close.

“We waited for him for over a month after that,” Chatchawan said. “We had police staking out his wife’s house, but he never showed up.”

The tip told the officers that a foreigner was hiding out in an abandoned area in the Pak Chong district. However, when officers got close, he took off running into the forest.

Maximilian Fernsebner hid out underwater in a ditch using a plastic pipe to breath for nearly three days. But on the third day, the Thai police received a call from the German Embassy from Fernsebner’s mother that he would surrender if Thai authorities backed off and instead let embassy representatives arrest him.

Everyone agreed to the terms and Fernsebner was arrested on June 20. The Thai authorities charged him with illegally entering Thailand and fined him 6000 baht, or $196. He is currently being detained in Thailand waiting extradition to Germany where he will stand trial.

His wife will not face any charges because she did not know of his past.

What an idiot!