November 8, 2011
JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian police said Tuesday they had arrested a British-born man accused of molesting nine children following a tip-off from authorities in Britain.
National police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said the 61-year-old man, who became an Indonesian citizen after changing his nationality, was also allegedly involved in an online child pornography network.
"During a cyber patrol by British police, they spotted a website with pictures of naked children and found that it was run from Indonesia," Nasution told AFP, adding that the suspect was detained last week on Batam island, south of Singapore.
The suspect is married to an Indonesian woman and they have two children, Nasution said.
He worked as an engineer at a private company on the island, and since 2004 had targeted children aged between eight and 12, Nasution said.
"He admitted having molested the children and photographing them in the nude," the spokesman said, adding that the suspect had paid street children up to 600,000 rupiah ($70) each.
During the raid, police seized several VCDs of nude children and sex toys.
According to British authorities, the suspect was once arrested in Britain for a road traffic offence.
An Australian male teacher suspected of raping three former pupils was extradited last month to Indonesia where he faces a 15-year jail term if convicted.
Under Indonesia's child protection law violence against children or coercing them into "obscene acts" is punishable by 15 years' imprisonment.
