Thailand’s Director-General of the Corrections Department Naras Savestanan is adamant that the UK man was deported from Thailand in a healthy condition on January 27th last.
A UK man arrested in Pattaya on drugs charges at the request of UK authorities in November is being tested for the coronavirus at a prison in Oxfordshire after collapsing on Monday. Thai authorities have stated categorically that the prisoner who was held at a Bangkok was healthy when he was deported from Thailand over two weeks ago into the custody of police in the United Kingdom.
A British drugs suspect arrested in Pattaya on Saturday 2nd November and transferred from Bangkok’s Remand Prison on January 27th for deportation has collapsed at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom where was lodged following his arrival in the UK.
Media sources in the United Kingdom are reporting that the criminal suspect is being tested for the Chinese coronavirus now officially known as Covid 19.
Rumble told police in November that he was set up by his Thai girlfriend but was jailed anyhow
31-year-old Mark John Rumble was reported by the Thai Examiner in November as pleading with arresting police officers not to take him into custody. He explained the charges being pursued against him were a misunderstanding caused by his vindictive former Thai girlfriend.
A Thai judge did not buy his story and he was held pending deportation into the custody of British police. The UK man spent nearly 3 months behind bars in Thailand.
Collapsed at HMP Bullingdon in Oxford on Monday
The 31-year-old is reported to have been incarcerated at the facility which is a British prison also for young offenders situated in the Oxford countryside with over 1,100 inmates two weeks ago following his long flight from Thailand.
Still awaiting confirmation of tests
It is important to note that the UK man has not been confirmed as being infected by the virus at his stage.
He is being tested with two other prisoners at the prison. It is understood that Mr Rumble was found collapsed in his cell and shortly afterwards, the two other inmates were reported with suspicious symptoms.
Mr Rumble and the other prisoners are being kept in isolation and authorities at the prison are enforcing other measures to keep the population as segregated as possible.
The prison, which is run by the state, is continuing its normal operations and routines amid the heightened scrutiny and current health scare.
Subjected to medical tests before being deported
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Director General of the Corrections Department, Naras Savestanan, has revealed that the UK man was given a medical examination before being handed over to UK authorities on January 27th and did not show any signs of being infected by the virus.
His temperature was recorded at 36.6 degrees while a lung x-ray showed that he was in a healthy condition.
The senior Thai official has also pointed out that there have been no infections so far among Thailand’s 300,000 inmate population despite assiduous efforts by authorities to monitor the situation as a priority.
Further reading:
UK man arrested on drugs charges by CSD police in Pattaya claims ex Thai wife set him up
