A Canadian schoolteacher accused of sexually abusing boys across Southeast Asia was arrested and paraded before the cameras in Thailand yesterday, ending a global manhunt sparked by a decoded digital photo.
Christopher Paul Neil tried to hide under a shirt as he was led in handcuffs past dozens of waiting reporters and into Thailand's national police headquarters.
He later sat in silence for about five minutes alongside police, stonefaced and wearing dark sunglasses with a white T-shirt and black nylon running pants.
PHOTO: AP
Colonel Pasial Luesomboon, the officer who arrested him, said that Neil only confirmed his name, age and nationality when he was arrested around 11am in Thailand's third-largest city Nakhon Ratchasima.
"Then he said he knew this day would come, because a Thai court had issued an arrest warrant. He said he needed a lawyer but hasn't said anything at all since then," Pasial said.
The worldwide search for Neil began just 10 days ago with a groundbreaking appeal from Interpol for the public's help in tracking down a man seen in 200 photos on the Internet that appeared to show him abusing a dozen young boys.
The man's face had been digitally swirled, but German computer experts reconstructed the images which Interpol then posted on its Web site along with its call for assistance.
The operation was codenamed "Vico" because the images were believed to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002 or 2003.
More than 300 people replied to Interpol's call, with five people on three continents offering critical information, the agency said in a statement on its Web site.
"The fact that we went to the public was the breakthrough," Interpol detective Mick Moran said.
"We are absolutely delighted that this guy has been arrested," he said.
Neil was found in a one-story rental house in Nakhon Ratchasima, around 300km northeast of Bangkok, where he was with a 25-year-old Thai transvestite, police said.
Police gave no details about his relationship with his companion.
The deputy national police chief, General Wongkot Maneerin, said Neil could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted over accusations that he abused a nine-year-old boy in Bangkok four years ago.
If any other countries want to prosecute him, he could be extradited after serving any prison time received in Thailand, Wongkut said.
Neil had been teaching English at a school in Seoul, where South Korean police are also investigating his activities.
He flew to Bangkok on Oct. 11, when security cameras documented his arrival at the airport.
Neil has visited Thailand six times since 2000, and in 2003 had tried and failed to get a job teaching at an international school in Bangkok, according to Thai officials.
Interpol says Neil is from suburban Vancouver, where Canadian media reported that his mother and a sibling still live.
Neil once studied at a seminary, hoping to become a priest but was eventually shunned by his teachers, who felt he lacked the moral backbone for the task, according to reports.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from