Wanted berry trader arrested in Thailand

Published: 23 Feb 13 14:18 CET

Ari Hallikainen, the Swede who left 149 Thai berry pickers stranded after emptying his firm Lomsjö Bär of cash and fleeing the country, has been arrested in Thailand.

According to Bangkok Post, Thai police recently received information from locals that the 52-year-old Hallikainen was living in a house in the Muang district of Chon Buri, a province in east Thailand.

Hallikainen disappeared from Sweden in the autumn of 2010, just before his berry company went bust.

Read more: www.thelocal.se/46364/20130223/#.USjgdaXvt8F

That was scandalous abandoning his workforce like that, those poor people being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.....and to make it even worse he flees to Thailand??

Nutter, he deserves everything that's coming his way.

And in other important news:

The sun was seen shining in the Bangkok area today.

Ari Hallikainen is not a swedish name, it´s finnish.

That was scandalous abandoning his workforce like that, those poor people being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.....and to make it even worse he flees to Thailand??

Nutter, he deserves everything that's coming his way.

Couldn't agree more.....what's puzzling me is how did he manage to find 159 Thai workers in Sweden to work for him in the first place.

Ari Hallikainen is not a swedish name, it´s finnish.

and neither is zlatan ibrahimovic, but he is swedish. maybe he is swedish with a finnish name..... just sayin'....

(couldn't resist, sorry for being a d**k)

That was scandalous abandoning his workforce like that, those poor people being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.....and to make it even worse he flees to Thailand??

Nutter, he deserves everything that's coming his way.

Couldn't agree more.....what's puzzling me is how did he manage to find 159 Thai workers in Sweden to work for him in the first place.

He didn't find them in Sweden, he or one of his Thai companions recruited them in Thailand.

But I think there is a word for someone who decides to go live by choice in the country he has an outstanding arrest warrant .

That was scandalous abandoning his workforce like that, those poor people being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.....and to make it even worse he flees to Thailand??

Nutter, he deserves everything that's coming his way.

Couldn't agree more.....what's puzzling me is how did he manage to find 159 Thai workers in Sweden to work for him in the first place.

Let's not downplay this, it's a Berry, Berry serious situation and Thais are not used to cheating or being cheated

They were recruited in Thailand to illegally work picking
berries in Sweden, and fraudulently obtained tourist visas to do so, the Thais
were not victims but part of a criminal conspiracy, when these thieves fell
out, the Thais went through the Swedish courts to get their share of the loot,
and I believe some of them received workers compensation from Sweden (20000 Swedish Kr)????

That was scandalous abandoning his workforce like that, those poor people being left to fend for themselves in a foreign country.....and to make it even worse he flees to Thailand??

Nutter, he deserves everything that's coming his way.

Couldn't agree more.....what's puzzling me is how did he manage to find 159 Thai workers in Sweden to work for him in the first place.

He didn't find them in Sweden, he or one of his Thai companions recruited them in Thailand.

But I think there is a word for someone who decides to go live by choice in the country he has an outstanding arrest warrant .

The word is "stupid".

Ari Hallikainen is not a swedish name, it´s finnish.

How many Swedish citizens has a Swedish name nowadays?

Ari Hallikainen is not a swedish name, it´s finnish.

How many Swedish citizens has a Swedish name nowadays?

Most of them.

Unfortunately a national has to start the process, any one arrested in Thailand , just asking

Here is his interview in finnish newspaper back in 2011, google translate it quite well.

He claims he paid and thais got paid from goverment too, so 2 times money for thais

http://www.uusisuomi.fi/ulkomaat/116062-suomalaisen-marjasotku-ruotsissa-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Dkuitit-varastettiin%E2%80%9D

And here ILO study of Thai workers in Sweden, this case get mention there

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-Ck-XqlpeBwJ:www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-manila/documents/publication/wcms_182264.pdf+&hl=fi&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShZW5-79JZqDMRLBdr5Olvi9yhty0krbU9wuixGIdg52Mt1VljuQm1JLwOD50aO8q4XlqaOabr92PO2jT4EpmHgZJ0ZBxlW3HhGxpmtHORdpMPgJ6IIkOzJiUSzisvA2moSqpcT&sig=AHIEtbRt5T4XwnbH098WaJR9Br6AJ4DEnw

Ari Hallikainen is not a swedish name, it´s finnish.

and neither is zlatan ibrahimovic, but he is swedish. maybe he is swedish with a finnish name..... just sayin'....

(couldn't resist, sorry for being a d**k)

Yes, he Finnish Swede. Now he Turnip.

Som Num Na. A confusing set of circumstances within the story.

They were recruited in Thailand to illegally work picking

berries in Sweden, and fraudulently obtained tourist visas to do so, the Thais

were not victims but part of a criminal conspiracy, when these thieves fell

out, the Thais went through the Swedish courts to get their share of the loot,

and I believe some of them received workers compensation from Sweden (20000 Swedish Kr)????

This story is a bit more like it, there's a scam and the Thais were involved. An " innocent ' Thai is a rare find indeed