INTERPOL - MAN WANTED / Christopher Paul Neil CAPTURED

[Rob]

INTERPOL media release
08 October 2007

http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/PressReleases/PR2007/PR200745.asp

INTERPOL seeks public’s help to identify man photographed sexually abusing children
Operation Vico




 LYON, France – INTERPOL is making a public worldwide request for assistance in identifying a man photographed sexually abusing children in a series of images posted on the Internet, the first time the organization has made such an appeal.

Although the original photographs had been digitally altered by him or his accomplices to disguise his face, specialists from the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) in Germany working with INTERPOL’s Trafficking in Human Beings unit have been able to produce an identifiable picture.

Despite extensive global efforts to identify and locate this individual through INTERPOL’s network of 186 National Central Bureaus and specialist units, the man’s identity and nationality still remain unknown.

'For years images of this man sexually abusing children have been circulating on the Internet. We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public’s help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens,' said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

'We have very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children and as an 186-member country police organization, INTERPOL is uniquely positioned to co-ordinate this global effort to identify and bring him to justice,' added Mr Noble.

The search for the individual has been codenamed Vico after analysis of the photographs, around 200 in total featuring 12 different young boys, established that the pictures were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia.

'The decision to make public this man’s picture was not one which was taken lightly, but after thoughtful consideration and with the full agreement of experts from INTERPOL’s member countries dedicated to fighting this appalling criminal activity,' said Kristin Kvigne, Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Trafficking in Human Beings Unit.

'We are certainly not encouraging members of the public to take any direct action themselves, particularly since any positive identification would need to be confirmed law enforcement authorities but if anyone recognizes this person, or has any information that could help investigators, please contact the police or INTERPOL National Central Bureau in your country.'

The photographs of the man can be seen on the INTERPOL website, www.interpol.int. Any questions, information or comments can be sent to INTERPOL’s Trafficking in Human Beings Unit via the following link http://www.interpol.int/public/thb/vico/default.asp

[klaasend]

[Rob]

Nice Work Klaas. If this thread needs moved, please do so. I included an Interpol section on my blog just now, might be a good idea to do so here somewhere. We're Global after-all.

[klaasend]

Nice Work Klaas. If this thread needs moved, please do so. I included an Interpol section on my blog just now, might be a good idea to do so here somewhere. We're Global after-all.

I'm going to move it to Crimes Against Children

[NYC_lover]

Hunt time.  Time for traced this men. And interpol give a research support.
Sex predators, we don't accept child abuse, you been warned, I go hunt you!!

[Rob]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301779,00.html

Interpol Says Suspected Pedophile Identified, Sought in Thailand

Monday, October 15, 2007


PARIS  —  A suspected pedophile sought in a worldwide Interpol manhunt has been identified and is believed to be in Thailand, the international police organization said Monday.

The man was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from 6 to early teens, in about 200 photographs posted on the Internet. The man's face was disguised in the photos as a digitalized whirl.

Using techniques that neither they nor Interpol would discuss, German police recreated an image of the man's face and released four reconstructed photos of him last week.

Interpol said more than 350 people then supplied tips to authorities worldwide, leading them to identify the man as an English teacher who worked at a school in South Korea.

Interpol said it now knows the suspect's name, nationality, date of birth and passport number, but it did not release that information in its statement. It said the man flew from Seoul, South Korea, to Bangkok, Thailand, last Thursday, with security cameras documenting his arrival at Thai immigration. Interpol again appealed for public help to track him down now.

"Thailand is at the center of an international manhunt, and authorities in the country, in co-operation with Interpol and police around the world, are hunting him down," Interpol's secretary general, Ronald K. Noble, said in a statement.

In Bangkok late Monday, the deputy chief of Thailand's Interpol liaison office, police Col. Pornprasert Kanchanarin, said he was unaware of the new developments in the case.

Authorities in the countries affected are still collecting and analyzing evidence to bring charges against the man when he is arrested, according to Interpol's statement.

Interpol provided two new photos of the suspect Monday. One, taken by Thai immigration officials upon his arrival Thursday, showed him seemingly older, with close-cropped hair and wearing glasses. The other, which Interpol said was provided by an informant, was a simple head shot of the man, smiling and ruddy-faced.

Interpol's decision to release the four reconstructed photos was seen as being somewhat risky because it could tip off criminals to techniques police have at their disposal and prompt them to better hide their identities.

One of the pictures released last week and posted on Interpol's Web site showed the suspect with uncombed short brown hair. Another showed him with a hairy chest.

The photos date from before December 2004, when they were found on the Internet, Anders Persson, a Swedish police officer assigned to Interpol's human trafficking unit, said last week. Some were digitally stamped as having been taken in 2002 and 2003, he said.

In its first appeal, Interpol said it had previously circulated photos of the man to police around the world, but failed to identify him — prompting the public appeal for help.

It also asked people who recognized the suspect or who have other information to contact police or the Interpol bureau in their country. It urged them not to take any direct action themselves.

Now, with the suspect still at large, "we must again enlist the public's support," Noble said.

The boys believed to have been abused have not been located, Persson said.

Suspected Pedophile pictures here
http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,2446,00.html

[MuffyBee]

Thai police name suspected web paedophile


Mark Tran and agencies
Tuesday October 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2192167,00.html

A suspected paedophile pictured on websites sexually abusing young boys has been identified as a 32-year-old Canadian, it emerged today.

Thai police named him as Christopher Paul Neil after a worldwide appeal by Interpol using reconstructed images of his face.

Interpol had more than 200 internet photos of the suspect abusing boys in Thailand and Cambodia, but his face had been digitally disguised until experts in Germany rebuilt the photos.

The English language teacher is thought to be on the run in Thailand. Interpol said security cameras documented his arrival at immigration on Thursday. He had apparently been working as an English language teacher in South Korea.

Article continues
"We believe he is still in Thailand and we are now collecting information from neighbouring countries where he committed crimes of paedophilia so we can issue an arrest warrant for him," said Colonel Apichart Suribunya, of the Thai police.

Police have been hunting the man for three years, ever since German police found online pictures of him abusing under-age Asian boys.

The suspect was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from six to their early teens.

The man's face was initially disguised behind a digitalised swirl but German police managed to rebuild an image of him and released four reconstructed photos last week.

Interpol said that more than 350 people supplied information to authorities worldwide after the appeal. Officials are still collecting and analysing evidence to bring charges if the suspect is arrested, it said.

Mr Neil's date of birth, passport number, and current and previous places of work had also been established, Interpol said.

"Thailand is at the centre of an international manhunt, and authorities in the country, in cooperation with Interpol and police around the world, are hunting him down," the Interpol secretary general, Ronald Noble, said yesterday.

Cambodian police alerted border authorities to look out for the suspect after a request from Interpol.

"We have issued the alert in case that person tries to enter Cambodia through any of the international checkpoints on Cambodia-Thai borders," said Keo Vanthan, a senior police official in charge of Cambodia's Interpol division.

He said police were investigating whether the suspect had previously entered Cambodia.

The case marks Thailand's latest high-profile paedophile manhunt.

John Mark Karr, who confessed to killing the six-year-old American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, was arrested in Bangkok last year, only to be freed for lack of corroborating evidence. He taught English at several schools in Bangkok.

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303435,00.html

Suspected Pedophile Wanted in Global Manhunt Arrested in Thailand
Friday , October 19, 2007

 BANGKOK, Thailand —

The Canadian schoolteacher who became the world's most wanted suspected pedophile was arrested by police Friday in northeastern Thailand, police said.

"Bingo! We've got him," police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara told The Associated Press.


The suspect, 32-year-old Christopher Paul Neil, was arrested in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima and was expected to be brought to the capital, Bangkok, later in the day, Wimol said.

Neil was identified by Thai police this week after digitally scrambled images of a man who police said was him with victims were unscrambled and released by Interpol.

[Rob]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303435,00.html

Suspected Pedophile Wanted in Global Manhunt Arrested in Thailand
Friday , October 19, 2007

 BANGKOK, Thailand —

The Canadian schoolteacher who became the world's most wanted suspected pedophile was arrested by police Friday in northeastern Thailand, police said.

"Bingo! We've got him," police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara told The Associated Press.


The suspect, 32-year-old Christopher Paul Neil, was arrested in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima and was expected to be brought to the capital, Bangkok, later in the day, Wimol said.

Neil was identified by Thai police this week after digitally scrambled images of a man who police said was him with victims were unscrambled and released by Interpol.

Klaas
Just saw this on the FOX website. The Authorities need to admit this technology WORKS!!!

This guy was untraceable until his picture was de-scrambled and placed all over the net. There is one less person hurting children and hopefully these kids can begin to heal.

[kissyface]

  YAY!!!  I hope they have some kind of inhumane punishment for this sad excuse for a human.  I believe I recall a caning carried out on a teen who was caught vandalizing?  Well, if they will cane someone for that, I wonder what they will do to this guy.  I hope it's torturous.  But I mean far worse than a caning.  I have read that in some other countries, jails are horrible places to be, not like over here in the U.S.A.  I am so thankful they have found him.  What a nightmare for these children.  I pray their healing can now begin.

[MuffyBee]

Accused pedophile's family wants return to Canada
Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:05pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1930861720071019?pageNumber=2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The family of accused pedophile Christopher Neil is relieved he has been taken into custody, and his brother said on Friday he would like to see Neil returned home to Canada.

Neil's family had urged him to surrender after learning he was the focus of a worldwide manhunt, and Matthew Neil said the family would not abandon Christopher now that he has been arrested in Thailand.
(snip)
"I would like to see him come back to Canada, but I understand it is an international incident and allegations," he told reporters, saying the issue was up to Thai and Canadian authorities.

Christopher Neil became the subject of an unusual global search after German investigators used unscrambling technology and identified him as a digitally disguised face in Internet photos involving child sex abuse.

Neil was teaching in South Korea when his then-unidentified image was distributed by police worldwide in early October. The image helped police learn his name, but by then he had fled to Thailand where he had taught previously.

British Columbia Attorney General Wally Oppal disclosed on Friday that Canadian police have been investigating Neil, apparently for complaints in the Vancouver area where he also worked as a teacher.

Matthew Neil said he had been unaware of the Canadian investigation. "I don't know what to think... It's even more shocking as it progresses," he said. 
No charges have been filed against Christopher Neil in Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police refused to comment on the case on Friday.

It is illegal for Canadians to visit other countries for the purpose of having sex with children, but the five-year-old "sex tourism" law has been rarely used and questions have been raised about its constitutionality.

It was too early to speculate if Canada would attempt to extradite Neil, Oppal said.

Matthew Neil, who has acted as the family's spokesman, said the past week has been "surreal"

"You see lots of these stories on the news, but you never think you're going to be part of it," he said.

[Rob]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303756,00.html

International Pedophile Suspect Denies Any Wrongdoing

Saturday, October 20, 2007
AP

BANGKOK, Thailand —  A Canadian schoolteacher suspected of having sex with dozens of young boys will be held in a Thai jail for at least 12 days pending a trial on molestation charges, a court ordered Saturday.

Christopher Paul Neil, one of the world's most wanted alleged pedophiles, denied he did anything wrong following his arrest Friday at a house in Thailand's rural northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, which he rented with a Thai transvestite friend whose phone calls police had traced.

A judge in the Bangkok Criminal Court signed a police order to extend his detention to 12 days, and could move later to keep him behind bars up to 84 days. After the closed-door hearing, Neil was incarcerated at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

The 32-year-old Neil arrived in court wearing a red-striped T-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses. Looking haggard, he said "no comment" when reporters asked if he had anything to say to his family.

"He was stressed out and could not sleep very well," said police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara, chief of the crimes against children, juveniles and women division. "I asked my subordinates to take care of him and give him food and drinks, so he feels better."
Related

Neil was charged Friday with taking a child under 15 without parental consent with intent to molest, punishable by up to 20 years in prison; illegal detention, punishable by up to three years; and sexual abuse of a child under 15, punishable by up to 10 years.

Wimol said the investigation into the allegations could take a month and a trial could start soon after.

Though Neil has not spoken publicly, Lt. Col. Manat Thongsimuang said he "denied all the charges" when questioned by police Friday.

In Canada, Neil's family issued an e-mailed statement in which they said "mistakes have been made but he is still a member of our family."

"We will do everything we can to support him during this troubling time in his life," said the Neil family statement. "We are all in agreement that he should be extradited to Canada to face these allegations."

Speaking separately to reporters outside his home in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Neil's younger brother, Matthew, said the family is "relieved and we want to see this move forward to the next phase of the event."

"I would like to see him come back to Canada, but I understand that it's an international incident and I understand the need for multinational involvement," he said.

Neil's arrest ended a global manhunt that started three years ago when German police discovered hundreds of photos online showing a man — his face obscured in a swirl — having sex with Asian boys.

German police reconstructed a recognizable image believed to be Neil, and Interpol last week issued an unprecedented worldwide appeal to identify and apprehend the suspect.

Immigration counter cameras took Neil's picture as he arrived at Bangkok's international airport, confirming his whereabouts. His photo was subsequently splashed across Thai newspapers, prompting people to call police with tips.

On Thursday night, police traced a call made on a mobile phone by a 25-year-old Thai transvestite who they have said arranged some of Neil's alleged sexual liaisons with boys.

They found the Thai man in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum. He told police he and Neil had rented a house together in neighboring Nakhon Ratchasima province, and on Friday morning the man led the five-man police team there.

When they went to the house, Neil surrendered peacefully and acknowledged he was the man they were looking for. The police used a warrant issued Thursday to place him under arrest.

The charges are based on Neil's alleged abuse of a 9-year-old boy in Bangkok in 2003, but Thai police say at least three other boys are believed to have had sex with him, and more charges may be filed.

Late Friday, Interpol called on victims of the captured suspect to come forward.

"The investigation must now continue. All victims of this man must make themselves known," the head of Interpol's police services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, said at a news conference in Lyon, France, the organization's headquarters.

Whether Neil would have to serve a sentence in Thailand if convicted is unknown. Foreigners convicted of crimes in Thailand are sometimes declared undesirable aliens after their trials and are expelled from the country.

Canadian authorities have said they will seek his extradition, but have not yet done so, according to Thai officials. Canada has sex tourism laws allowing prosecution for crimes committed overseas.

Neil lived in Thailand from 2002 to early 2004, police said. Three Thai youths contacted police Wednesday after seeing Neil's photograph on television, claiming he had paid each of them 500 baht to 1,000 baht (US$16 to US$32) to perform oral sex on him in 2003. They were aged 9, 13 and 14 at the time of their alleged abuse.

Neil had taught at various schools in Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam since 2000. Before then, Neil worked as a chaplain in Canada, counseling teenagers. He abruptly left his most recent teaching job in South Korea last week on a one-way ticket to Thailand as investigators came closer to identifying him.

[Nut44x4]

Looking for more recent update, but here is what went down in 2008

"Swirly-face" pedophile suspect pleads innocent
 January 11, 2008 BANGKOK (Reuters) -

"Swirly-face" Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil pleaded not guilty on Friday in a pre-trial court hearing to charges of molesting under-age children in Thailand, a court official said on Friday.

The Bangkok criminal court set March 10 as the start of Neil's trial, more than four months after he was arrested in an international man-hunt triggered by the unraveling of his digitally scrambled face from images of abuse found on the Internet. The pictures are thought to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia, so fall outside Thai jurisdiction.
http://fightforjustice.blogspot.com/2007/10/thai-police-identify-interpol-pedophile.html

[Nut44x4]

Published: 15 Aug 2008
 
A CANADIAN schoolteacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy has been sentenced to three years and three months in jail in Thailand. 
Vile Christopher Paul Neil, who taught in several Asian countries, was arrested last year following an international manhunt after hundreds of photos of him allegedly engaging in sex acts with young boys were discovered on the internet.

The Thai court also imposed a $1,780 fine on the 32-year-old who pleaded guilty on May 12.

His initial sentence of six years, six months was reduced by the court because Neil pleaded guilty.

But he still faces similar charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty, involving the younger brother of the 13-year-old victim.

In that case, he faces up to 20 years in jail for charges that include sexually abusing a minor, videotaping the alleged abuse, taking a child without parental consent, and holding him against his will.

The child, who was nine-years-old at the time, claims Neil paid him $15 to $30 to perform oral sex in 2003. That trial resumes on October 7.


Higher

"OK," was Neil's only comment to reporters after the verdict was read.

His interpreter said Neil, dressed in a prison uniform and wearing ankle chains, would not appeal.

After the trial, the grim-faced Canadian was taken straight to a Bangkok prison where he will serve his sentence.

Rosalind Prober, president of the Canadian child rights group Beyond Borders, said the sentence "could have been higher."

But she said it was the first stage of justice for Neil, suggesting he may be tried in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam.

"This is the first, baby step for Christopher Neil in terms of having him held accountable for the international sex crimes he is accused of committing," Prober said from Bangkok.

"The world will be watching to see if there is the political will to continue on with this case."

Reading out the verdict, the court said Neil was guilty of sexually abusing a boy of less than 15 years of age, distributing pornographic photographs, and illegally taking a child from its parents.

During the trial, the victim, now 18, testified he went to Neil's apartment in Bangkok where the crime was committed.

Photos that allegedly showed Neil engaging in sexual acts and playing with naked or partially clothed young boys were also presented.

Neil was arrested in Thailand on October 19, 2007, after the international police agency Interpol unscrambled swirled digital images from about 200 internet photos, which allegedly show Neil engaging in sexual acts with young boys.

Neil admitted through his translator that he took the photos but said he did not post the pictures online.

Hundreds of tips were received and Neil was arrested 11 days after the Interpol appeal was launched.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/justice/1563025/Paedophile-teacher-Christopher-Paul-Neil-sentenced-to-3-years-in-jail-in-Thailand-after-sexually-abusing-13-year-old-boy.html



Smirk ... chained Neil escorted out of court