A man has been arrested for threatening staff at the Australian Embassy after they refused to help him get custody of his child.
Pol Lt Col Siam Insuwanno, deputy superintendent of Thung Mahamek police station, said Travis John Moore, 30, was apprehended at an apartment in Pattaya, Chon Buri.
An arrest warrant was issued for Mr Moore when embassy officials reported him for making phone calls threatening to hurt staff on several occasions over a period of ten days in June this year, after they turned down his repeated requests for help to gain custody of his eight-month-old daughter from his former Thai wife.
After his requests were declined, the man sent a photo of himself holding a fake gun to his head to the embassy.
Police said this had distressed staff, who were worried he would harm himself.
Mr Moore admitted threatening staff over the phone, but said he was angry that he had been refused help to get custody of the baby girl, who he wanted to take back to Australia with him.
He claimed that his former wife beat the child regularly before they were separated.
But police investigations found that Mr Moore's ex-wife provides good care to their child.
Mr Moore told police he used to be a soldier in Australia but had suffered a leg injury and left the military. He travelled to Thailand in 2010 and met his former wife.
He was charged with intimidating and insulting others.