Anti-spam campaigners are hoping that one of the world's biggest spammers could be feeling the long arm of the law.
Suspected spam king Christopher Smith (also known as "Rizler"), is expected to appear in court today after his arrest at Minneapolis St Paul International airport.
Smith was arrested shortly after midnight after stepping off a flight on Thursday 30 June from the Dominican Republic, where he had been operating since a federal judge in May shut down his lucrative businesses, Burnsville Internet and Xpress Pharmacy Direct, and ordered him to stop selling drugs. Smith had since set up a similar operation in the Dominican Republic.
Although there have been recent prosecutions for spam in the US, it is not the sending of unsolicited email that has Smith in trouble, but the illegal sale of drugs - that and the fact that he jumped the country.
