World’s Most Wanted Pedophile Suspect Arrested In Thailand
Posted October 19, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He ran around the world but it wasn’t far enough. A Canadian man suspected of being a pedophile who allegedly molested and photographed numerous Cambodian and Vietnamese children and then posted their photos on the Internet has been captured.
Both Thailand officials and international crime fighting agency Interpol had been seeking 32-year-old Christopher Paul Neil, after he was identified through a unique electronic method that “unswirled” his scrambled face in the photos, allegedly tying him to the disgusting images.
The New Westminster, B.C. native was picked up in the early morning hours on Friday in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima and subsequently appeared in a Bangkok court. Wearing sunglasses and a white T-shirt, Neil held what appeared to be a blue shirt over his face as he was led into the courtroom and sat stone-faced during the proceeding that followed. He made no comment to reporters.
Officials say they found him hiding in a northeastern town there with a friend, who they accuse of helping arrange some of his sexual liaisons with boys. Cops overseas were ecstatic with the news. “Bingo! We’ve got him,” exulted police Maj. Gen. Wimol Powintara.
Thai officials had issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for the man accused of being the world’s most wanted child predator after he was identified by a public plea from Interpol and then fled his job teaching English in South Korea. He turned up several days later on a Bangkok airport security camera and his picture was distributed to all border guards in the country.
Since then, authorities have insisted it was only a matter of time before they caught him, and true to their word, the net tightened on Friday. “Christopher Neil didn’t say anything at all,” relates police spokesman Pongsapat Pongjaroien. “[Except] he would like to get the lawyer, something like that.”
“I think he knew we were coming [sic],” adds police Col. Paisal Luesomboon, one of the officials who made the arrest. “He knew that there was an arrest warrant issued and that his face was posted everywhere.” But while Neil conceded his I.D., he wouldn’t make any admission about whether he was the man in the child porn photos.
Thai investigators allege that in addition to the children in the pictures, Neil paid three local youngsters, ages 9, 13 and 14, for oral sex. That was enough to get the local arrest warrant and allow authorities the leeway to locate their man. Interpol has been chasing him for at least three years. “I want to commend the Royal Thai Police for the swift and decisive actions that led to Neil’s arrest and those local citizens who helped to identify and locate this suspected predator in a civil manner,” praised Interpol’s Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.
The arrest ends a massive global manhunt, although experts are still trying to find the abused kids from the photos.
But now a new chapter in this sordid saga begins – where will Neil be tried? The Thai justice system will want a crack at him, but Canada has already indicated that as a citizen of this country, they’d like to try him on Canadian soil and plan to seek his extradition so he can face the music back home. Canada has sex tourism laws allowing prosecution for crimes committed abroad.
Previous story:
How Did Thai Officials Find Pedophile Suspect?
B.C. Officials Confirm They Were Looking Into Suspected Pedophile, Too
