Immigration police arrested a British national wanted in connection with human-trafficking charges in England at the request of the British government in Phnom Penh last week, police said yesterday.

Pum Vithya, deputy director of the Immigration Police Department at the Ministry of Interior, said British national Andrew Christopher Michael Wallace, who was reported-ly sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in the UK on human-trafficking charges, was picked up several days ago after a request from the British Embassy in Bangkok.

“We have detained him in my office ... and so far have no official decision about deportation,” Vithya said.

Thailand’s The Nation newspaper reported in 2011 that Wallace had been convicted of human-trafficking charges in England for his involvement in sending Thai women to the UK, but had been released on bail while awaiting an appeal.  

According to the Bangkok Post, Wallace then fled to Thailand where he was arrested by Thai police co-operating with a request from Interpol.

The Bridgwater Mercury, a British paper, reported that in May 2010 it came to light during Wallace’s trial that he had brought two Thai women to the UK of their own volition for the purposes of becoming prostitutes, setting up encounters for them with clients and splitting their earnings.

The judge at the time reportedly noted the women’s age and apparent willingness to come to England as sex workers as “mitigating circumstances”.

Officials at the British embassies in Phnom Penh and Bangkok could not be reached for comment.