Paedophiles Fight Back In Thailand

Two suspected paedophiles have had a former Thai police volunteer arrested in the Thai resort of Pattaya for harassment and blackmail.

The two paedophiles,  a Swede and a Briton, whose names have been withheld, had both agreed to pay ?2000 and ?3000 respectively for indulging in under age sex with young boys.

One withdrew the cash from the bank. The second paid in full.  But when they realised their blackmailer was not a normal policeman, they made an official complaint.

The arrested man Khun Wansanor said that he had worked voluntarily with police and grabbed their, apparently lucrative, list of names of suspected paedophiles.

Critics, however, say he would have had to have been given the list by a Thai police officer.

Thai police were at pains to say that Wansanor was not a real policeman. Police Major General Koson Paowes said:  ‘He was impersonating a policeman but he has not had any police training.’

Nevertheless despite one or two high profile cases many arrested paedophiles in Pattaya, a resort known for its sex and sleaze, are eventually released after paying large ‘fines’ which go to local police. Those arrested claimed they have had to pay up to ?15,000.

Among those released,  have been two arrested in a joint operation with Britain’s CEOP last December which was described as a triumph of international police co-operation.

‘The Royal Thai Police has demonstrated an unerring commitment to making Thailand a hostile environment for UK offenders,’ said CEOP’s chief Jim Gamble at the time.

One Briton, Maurice Praill, known as ‘The Ghost’ abused children for over twenty years, paying off police many times, before finally being sent to jail in January for 14 years after  outrage was expressed by child protection agencies at the local police’s failure to keep him behind bars.