British career gangster Sam Walker 'is arrested by undercover cops in Vietnam' as he shares clip of moment he's put into back of police van to his TikTok followers

Published: 12:40, 6 April 2026 | Updated: 12:58, 6 April 2026 A notorious Liverpool gangster turned content creator has been arrested by undercover police in Vietnam, according to a video shared with his 168,000 TikTok followers. Sam Walker, who previously chronicled himself hitching a ride from Liverpool to West Africa after skipping bail over drugs offences, filmed plain-clothed officers apparently following him in the capital Hanoi. The 42-year-old self-confessed career criminal is then surrounded by men who ask to see his visa before he is placed in the back of a police vehicle. While the reasons for his apparent arrest are unclear, in other videos circulating on social media, Walker says he expects to be on ‘section 18 charges even though I didn’t do nothing’. Under English law, a Section 18 assault carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Walker, who has more than 100 crimes to his name, once threatened to end the career of football star Ross Barkley. Last year he took to social media to debunk outlandish online rumours that he was in fact Robert Thompson, one of Merseyside toddler James Bulger’s murderers. He was last in court in January when charges of sending a communication threatening serious violence relating to voice notes he allegedly sent to a woman were dropped. Sam Walker, 42, filming himself in the back of a police vehicle after apparently being arrested by undercover officers in Vietnam In 2024 Walker, from Liverpool, embarked on a six-day journey criss-crossing Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, to Sierra Leone after being arrested over alleged drugs offences Walker, from Liverpool, had previously been unable to attend hearings in the case due to injuries sustained when he was stabbed and shot in July 2025, his lawyer said. But he was rapped by a judge over one video in which he told followers ‘I don’t wanna be sat in a court all f****** day wasting my f****** time’. Expressing her ‘surprise’ over the clip given he was then facing a potential trial, Judge Louise Brandon warned Walker he needed to ‘give very thoughtful care’ about his posts, the Liverpool Echo reported. In the latest clips, Walker films himself walking through Hanoi while apparently being followed by undercover police, commenting: ‘That’s heavy, that.’ He is then compliant as officers confirm his identity before taking him away. It comes after he posted several videos and live streams of himself in the south east Asian nation. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is understood to be in touch with the Vietnamese authorities over his alleged detention. In 2024 Walker taunted police from Sierra Leone after fleeing the UK by private jet and taking a 2,000-mile hitch on a cargo ship. Walker (pictured during his 2024 journey to Sierra Leone) spent three days travelling across Mauritania, The Gambia and Guinea Skipping bail after being arrested on suspicion of a drug supply plot, Walker embarked on a six-day journey criss-crossing Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to avoid border checks. He was repeating an audacious journey he made in 2018 - while also wanted by police - where he was nicknamed the Bad Samaritan after claiming to have used the trip to help rebuild slums. However according to his own TikTok posts he was arrested in Sierra Leone during the 2024 trip, saying during a video that he will ‘happily do prison’. ‘I don't give a s***,’ he adds. Walker has spent most of his adult life in and out of jail. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years jail in 2008 after being caught peddling heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Widnes and Runcorn in Cheshire. His gang earned up to £2,500 a day before being caught in a police sting that saw £12million of drugs seized along with luxury cars, bundles of cash and jewellery. He made front page headlines in 2014 when he publicly threatened Aston Villa and former England ace Barkley, then an Everton player. The sinister Twitter message, sparked in a row over an ex-girlfriend of the footballer in 2014, said: 'Inbox me a number for you, ya little rat! 'You know wot this is about so don't play stupid or your footie career will come to an end!' In 2019, he was slammed after it was revealed he had set up his own YouTube channel from behind bars.  In another string of videos from his jail cell, the convicted drug dealer went viral after hosting his own 'Prisoners' Got Talent' show in 2022. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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