POLICE NAB FOUR FOREIGNERS IN PATTAYA PAEDOPHILE CRACKDOWN

Pattaya Daily News, December 12, 2008

Police have arrested four foreigners, including two British nationals, one German and a US citizen in a crackdown on sexual abuse of minors in Pattaya, police said Thursday.

Yesterday, police Major-General Chaiwat said the Pattaya clean-up, conducted from November 17 to Thursday, had been assisted by tip-offs from the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOPC). “There are foreign nationals and networks facilitating sexual abuse of minors in Thailand so we needed to crack down on the crime,” said police Major-General Chaiwat Kaetworachai, commander of Thailand’s Prevention of Crimes Against Women and Children police division.

Netted in the crackdown were two British nationals, Malcolm Henry Payne, 59, and Robert Alexander Horsman, 45, were arrested at different locations between 6am and 7am. A 67-year-old German man, Fritz Dieter Battener, and 62-year-old American Robert Roy Lond were also arrested in Pattaya following a joint operation between the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the Royal Thai Police. All four men were arrested and charged with sexually abusing children under the age of 15.

The arrests were made as part of operation Naga, which began earlier this year after CEOP identified an online network of suspected child abusers.

Police also laid out a large amount of sexual paraphernalia which they said had been recovered during the raids.

Officers said they had recovered hundreds of photos and videos of abused young boys. Also arrested was Thai national Saeng Kaetdee (30) (นายเอกนรินทร์ ชัยเจริญโชคดี หรือนายแสง เกตุดี ) on procurement charges. All five were brought to Bangkok Thursday to face charges and court cases.

They have been freed on bail to await a court case. If they are found guilty they could face at least 20 years in jail.