Cambodian police, child rights groups need the public's help

Cambodian police, child rights groups need the public's help

Cambodian anti-trafficking police have appealed to Interpol for more information on a man believed to have preyed on at least a dozen children here and in Vietnam and posted graphic photographic evidence of his crimes on the internet.

Anti-trafficking police chief for the Ministry of Interior, Bith Kim Hong, said he has requested Interpol forward him details of the case as police were keen to investigate.

"So far we have received nothing from Interpol but we are keen to do whatever we can from this country," he said by telephone. Cambodia and Vietnam are two of 186 members of Interpol worldwide.

Interpol took the unprecedented step of releasing photos of the man on the front page of its website on Monday, October 8, whom it said appeared in more than 200 photos posted on the internet molesting 12 young boys aged as young as six.

"Although the original photographs had been digitally altered by him or his accomplices to disguise his face, specialists from the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) in Germany working with Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings unit have been able to produce an identifiable picture," Interpol said in its statement.

"Despite extensive global efforts to identify and locate this individual through Interpol's network of 186 National Central Bureaus and specialist units, the man's identity and nationality still remain unknown."

It said examination of the photos had narrowed the victims down as Cambodian and Vietnamese children. They first appeared on the internet about four years ago and Interpol been working on the case ever since in an effort codenamed Operation Vico; a combination of the nationalities of the victims.

'For years images of this man sexually abusing children have been circulating on the Internet. We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens,' Interpol quoted Secretary General Ronald Noble as saying.

'We have very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children and … Interpol is uniquely positioned to co-ordinate this global effort to identify and bring him to justice,' Noble said.

Country coordinator for child protection network Childsafe [3], Mark Turgesen, said despite the man's photo being widely circulated on websites such as EAS, as of Tuesday October 9 his organization had received no information yet from the public and urged people to come forward.

"This is a small community so we are very hopeful someone has seen this man," Turgesen said. "Any clues, any information, no matter how small, might be the key to tracking down and stopping this guy. We urge anyone out there to contact us if they know anything at all."

Turgesen said network members were keen to circulate images of the man even more widely and may yet embark on a poster campaign targeting bars and other venues around the country in the hopes of jogging the public's memory.

"We are discussing different options with our network partners. This man must be caught," he said.

Interpol has urged people not to take the law into their own hands if they see anyone they suspect matches the man's identity, nor to risk their own safety, but instead to immediately call local law enforcement, child welfare or Interpol.

Contact Childsafe on (+855) 12 563 039

The photographs of the man can be seen on the Interpol website at www.interpol.int [4]

Any questions, information or comments can be sent to Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings Unit via the following link: http://www.interpol.int/public/thb/vico/default.asp [5]