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Thailand on high alert in global manhunt for paedophile suspect
BANGKOK(AFP) - - Thai police said Wednesday they were on high alert for an unnamed Western man accused of molesting Asian boys, triggering a global hunt, but said that tracking him down would be difficult.
Interpol has posted images on its website of a man accused of distributing hundreds of photos of his abuse of Southeast Asian boys committed in 2000 and 2001.
It is the second time in seven months the international police agency has made such a public appeal, following a search for another suspected paedophile, Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian who was arrested in Thailand in October.
"We have alerted our agencies by distributing his picture to the immigration department and the police central investigation bureau," said Colonel Apichat Suriboonya, head of Thailand's branch of Interpol.
"As of now we have no information about whether the suspect is in Thailand or not. It is not like the Christopher case where we knew his name and flight number," he said.
Apichat said Thailand did not have the technology to match a suspects' face to the images taken of all incoming and outgoing passengers which have been taken at its airports since last year.
Given that Thailand receives some 15 million visitors a year, it would be very hard to locate an unnamed suspect, he said.
"This time the request is quite difficult but we have to try," he said.
"I think they (Interpol) have investigated this case for some time but when it hit a dead end they tried this strategy as a last chance."
Neil, a teacher, was seized in northeast Thailand on October 19 following the worldwide Interpol campaign to track down a man seen in 200 Internet photos abusing Asian boys.
The suspect's face had been digitally swirled in the pictures, but German computer experts were able to reconstruct the images, which Interpol then posted on its website along with its public appeal.
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