Swede held for child sex crimes in Cambodia

A Swedish man in his sixties has been arrested in Cambodia on suspicions of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy.

The man, who resides in the Stockholm area, was arrested Wednesday night local time, but denies committing any crime.

According to the newspaper, the Swede was the target of an investigation into other child sex crimes, and was a figure in another investigation into child sex crimes in Cambodia which was abandoned in September last year.

Interpol’s division for child pornography crimes learned of the arrest on Wednesday.

“We’ve received information about it, but haven’t been directly involved in the arrest,” said Interpol’s Anders Persson from Lyon, France.

Varg Gyllander, a spokesperson with the Swedish police’s National Investigation Department (Rikskriminalen), confirmed that a Swedish man had been arrested in Cambodia and that they had received information that he was taken to a detention centre in the capital city Phnom Penh.
“What we’re doing now is making sure that the Cambodian police receive the help they need from us. We’ll help them out as best we can,” he said.

Police don’t know of the exact charges against the Swede, but it has something to do with the sexual assault of a child.

“All we can say is that he’s known for similar crimes from before,” said Gyllander to the TT news agency.

Local organizations which against paedeophiles in Cambodia are said to have had the man under surveillance for some time.

He is reported to have been in the country since 2007 and been in contact with small boys, according to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

Seila Samelang from Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), claims that, prior to his arrest, the man was living together with five boys and had launched an adoption bid with local authorities in Cambodia, according to SvD.