Thai Dota 2 pro 23savage handcuffed, proves identity by winning match for police

Thai Dota 2 professional Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon was handcuffed and questioned by Kuala Lumpur police detectives until he proved his identity by winning a match in front of them.

In a Facebook post on October 13, the Xipto Esports player said detectives entered his team's bootcamp house after practice, collected passports and phones, and shut down the internet and computers.

He was handcuffed together with teammates Saieful "Fbz" Ilham and Chon Kien "Oli" Chan and held for about two hours while officers questioned their professions.

The detectives asked what they did for a living and whether they were genuinely professional gamers.

The mood shifted when one detective, wearing a France football shirt with Olise’s number 11, said he knew Dota and had heard of Fnatic.

23savage showed him his Instagram account, and the officer recognised Ms. Puiyi, a Malaysian media personality, in his photos.

"That helped convince the detectives that he was a genuine competitor and a public figure," his account stated.

With tension then easing, 23savage asked how much longer it would take, since he needed to prepare for matches.

The detectives took off his handcuffs, though only his, and invited him to prove his skills in a live game.

Playing Kez while an officer watched, he finished the match after dropping a whopping 32 kills.

This was enough to convince the detectives, and 23savage was allowed to go back to playing.

The story ended on a light note. By his account, the detective helped himself to two boxes of 23savage’s Nutella.

He wrote that, despite the ordeal, he considers it a good experience.

The post has gone viral in only a few hours, garnering around 9,000 reactions and 1,400 shares.