PARIS — First, Interpol unmasked his face. Now, it knows his name.
The international police organization, working off tips from people who responded to a global appeal for help, said Monday that it has identified a suspected pedophile shown in Internet photos abusing young boys.
The man, whose face initially was disguised behind a digitalized swirl, is now thought to be on the run in Thailand, Interpol said. He is said to be an English teacher at a school in South Korea.
While Interpol declined to release the suspect’s name, police in Thailand said a 32-year-old Canadian named Christopher Paul Neil is the person sought.
“We believe he is still in Thailand, and we are now collecting information from neighboring countries where he committed crimes of pedophilia so we can issue an arrest warrant for him,” Thai police Col. Apichart Suribunya told The Associated Press.
The Canadian Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment.
The man was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from 6 to their early teens, in about 200 photographs posted on the Internet.
Using techniques that neither they nor Interpol would discuss, German police re-created an image of the man’s face and released four reconstructed photos of him last week.
Interpol said more than 350 people then supplied tips to authorities worldwide. Officials are still collecting and analyzing evidence to bring charges against the man if he is arrested, it said.
Interpol went public after efforts to track down the man through its network ran dry. Ronald Noble, Interpol’s secretary-general, credited “remarkable progress” following the public response to its appeal Oct. 8.
Interpol said the man flew from Seoul, South Korea, to Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, with security cameras documenting his arrival at Thai immigration.
