Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Global hunt for child-sex suspect



An international manhunt has been launched after Thai police named a suspected paedophile as Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian.
Authorities in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are searching for the man, who allegedly appears in 200 internet images abusing young boys.

Interpol said the suspect had flown from South Korea to Thailand last week.

Interpol appealed for public help after experts unscrambled digitally-swirled internet photos of the suspect.

It was the first time the international police agency had made a direct worldwide appeal for public information in a case.

'False address'

Border guards in the three South-East Asian countries were on alert after the suspect arrived in Bangkok from the South Korean capital, Seoul, on a one-way, full-fare ticket last week, said Interpol officer Mick Moran, who is leading the manhunt.

The Canadian, who had been teaching English in Asia, had given a false address on his Thai immigration form, he said.

Thai police believe the suspect is still in Thailand, Colonel Apichart Suribunya told Associated Press news agency.

They are also searching for children he allegedly abused and took photos of, said Interpol's chief in Thailand, Panaspong Sirawongse.

"There were three boys he had abused. One boy has been identified and is being sought, two others have not been identified," Mr Panaspong said.

Interpol released a security camera image of the man arriving at Bangkok airport on 11 October.

"All the countries in this region have all been alerted - they're all on alert and they all have border controls in place in an effort to spot the movements of this man," Mr Moran said.

He added: "I have no doubt that he left Korea when he saw himself on the internet."

Earlier, the agency said it had identified the suspect but did not name him.

But Panaspong Sirawongse named him as Christopher Paul Neil and told Reuters news agency Mr Neil had worked at an international school in Thailand between 2003 and 2004.

Identity puzzle

The first pictures of the man were found three years ago in Germany. They had been manipulated to disguise the man's face with a swirl pattern, but German computer specialists managed to produce identifiable images that were posted on Interpol's website a week ago.

After an appeal for information, the suspect was identified by five different sources from three continents as a man teaching English at a school in South Korea, Interpol said.

Police then established his name, nationality, date of birth, passport number and current and previous places of work.

Photographs of the suspect published on the internet show him apparently abusing 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

"Thai police are collecting evidence and information from neighbouring countries and other Interpol members to seek a court order for an arrest warrant," Col Suribunya told French news agency AFP.

Interpol maintains a database of 520,000 images of child sex abuse submitted by 36 member states.

Using sophisticated software, investigators have identified and rescued nearly 600 victims from 31 countries.

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