Thai police detain paedophile
Interpol released a photo of Christopher Neil entering Thailand
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Friday, 19, Oct 2007 07:50
Police in Thailand say they have arrested a man wanted by Interpol for posting images of himself abusing children on the internet.
Christopher Paul Neil, an English teacher from Canada, was detained in Nakhon Ratchasima in the north-east of the south-east Asian country, according to local police.
It follows an international hunt for a man believed to have been involved in abusing about 200 boys.
His arrest comes after experts working for Interpol were able to digitally manipulate the photos he had posted of himself committing the acts so that he was identifiable.
These images were then published around the world in the effort to track him down.
A 17-year-old boy from Thailand gave police a statement confirming that he had been abused by the man several years ago. He is thought to be among the boys to have had their images posted on the web.
"Interpol wishes to acknowledge the extraordinary investigative work done by the Royal Thai Police and to thank this particularly courageous victim for providing Thai authorities with a basis to issue an arrest warrant for Neil," the secretary general of the multinational police force, Ronald K Noble, said after the warrant was issued.
He added: 'The great response from the public and from the Interpol national central bureaus in the region concerned, Canada and Germany, coupled with the swift actions of the Royal Thai Police, have enabled the global law enforcement community to move one step closer to bringing this sexual predator to justice."
Mr Neil entered Thailand from South Korea on October 11th and his immigration photo was also released by police as part of the attempt to bring him to justice.
He is thought to have been working as a teacher in Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam for the last seven years.