Police nab American accused of race killing

BANGKOK, June 10 (AFP) – Thai police detained an American man accused of a racist killing in the United States after the FBI issued an arrest warrant, officials said yesterday. Immigration police Colonel Wisanu Muangpraesri said officers arrested Matthew Robert Stedman, 27, at a Bangkok apartment on Wednesday after he entered the country using a British passport. “The US embassy and FBI contacted us to ask for his arrest (in connection with) the 1994 murder of a black woman,” he told AFP, adding the man was alleged to be a radical racist. US officials here confirmed an American citizen had been arrested, and said he had entered the country using a British passport under the name of Duncan Robert Allen Smith. They said Stedman was wanted for murder and arson. Thai police said the suspect had fled the US to Germany and Britain before travelling to Thailand.