More than a month after the Singapore Police promised to pursue the StanChart bank robber, James Roach’s return from whichever country he is in, the robber continues to evade the clutches of our local law enforcement agencies. In the latest setback for the efforts of the Police, the Attorney-General’s Office in Bangkok rejected the Singapore authorities extradition request for Canadian national David James Roach.
“We denied it because we are not in the position to consider it,” said Mr Amnat Chotchai, director-general of the international affairs department at the Attorney General’s Office.
Roach, a Canadian, who is suspected of robbing the Singapore bank of $30,000 fled to Thailand soon after. He was apprehended by the Thai police soon after, but it did not extradite the suspect to Singapore because the Republic does not have an extradition treaty with the country.
Thailand’s head of immigration, Police Lieutenant General Nattorn Prohsunthorn, said that the Thai police did not technically arrest Roach; but that they merely cancelled his right to stay in Thailand. They are therefore not able to keep him for very long, he added.
He further said that the Canadian authorities are trying to send Roach back to his country of birth, and that they will follow Thai legal procedure in sending him away from Thailand.
The Police in responding to media queries on the Roach’s extradition said that in the event where the suspect is unable to be repatriated to Singapore directly, it will pursue his return from whichever country Thailand decides to send him to.