New dad ends up in handcuffs

PHUKET: Robert Clarke received more than he bargained for when he visited his Thai wife at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital after she gave birth to their child. As he watched over her early on Friday morning, police officers marched in and arrested him. Pol Capt Anukul Nuket of Phuket Town Police Station said that the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok had contacted police and told them that Clarke, 32, who holds both Norwegian and American passports, was wanted for robbing a bank in Oslo. Clarke, the embassy said, was one of a gang of nine, all armed with machine pistols, who robbed the Sparebanken Nor bank of some 8.8 million kroner (about 40 million baht) in June last year. On March 8, Norwegian police arrested seven other members of the gang but Clarke and one other had already fled the country. Capt Anukul said that Clarke was sent to Bangkok this morning under escort. From there he will be returned to Norway.