May 7, 2008
BANGKOK - Thai police 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.
Images of a man accused of distributing hundreds of photos of his abuse of Southeast Asian boys committed in 2000 and 2001 are posted by the Interpol.
"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.
However, police have no information about whether the suspect is in Thailand or not.
Thailand did not have the technology to match a suspects' face to the images taken of all incoming and outgoing passengers at its airports.
Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian was arrested in October and Thailand is praised for its cooperation in tracking down Neil.
Neil, a teacher, was seized in the northeast on October 19 following the worldwide Interpol campaign to track down a man seen in 200 Internet photos abusing Asian boys.
Thailand receives some 15 million visitors a year, and it would be very hard to locate an unnamed suspect, according to Col Apichat.
