Pattaya Is The Center Of Child Sex Trade

[sriracha john]

This story begins six months ago with the Bangkok Post:

May 30, 2005

Source: Bangkok Post

Original Article: http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/30May2005_news05.php

European police say Pattaya centre of child sex trade WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

A close watch is being kept at airports for four alleged members of a foreign paedophile gang which European police say operates out of Pattaya.

Pol Gen Amnuay Phetsiri, deputy national police chief, said the information came from police in Belgium and Finland.

On Aug 19, 2002 a German man, Frank Trebing, was arrested at Frankfurt airport with pornographic pictures of young boys. Information from Trebing led to the arrests of Elmar Umbach, another German man, and Jaatinen Jouko Petri, a Finnish man, in Belgium on Sept 14 last year. The two were found to be distributors of pornographic pictures of young boys.

A search of Umbach's house found lists of contacts and records of financial transactions with people in Finland, Germany, Morocco, Brazil, Mexico and Spain.

Belgian authorities charged Umbach with criminal assembly and sent Petri to Finland for legal action.

The two told Belgian and Finnish police that Pattaya was the centre for young boys for the sex trade in Southeast Asia.

Belgian and Finnish police passed the information to Thai police and asked them to watch for the arrival of four people who had connections with Umbach.

At least two of them have previously been to Thailand, police said.

One of them used to run a club in Pattaya, where he met Umbach and Trebing and other people involved in the trade in young boys for sex and pornographic pictures. The other had organised child sex tours to Thailand for about 10 years.

Umbach admitted he paid young Thai boys 200 baht each for a photo session and 400-800 baht for sex and that he had sex with as many as 85 Thai boys aged 14-16 and 40 others aged 10-14. However, photo specialists said some of the boys appeared a lot younger, possibly as young as four years.

Pol Col Anuchai Lekbamrung, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said he was investigating further, based on the information from Belgium and Finland.

A CSD source said at least two bars in South Pattaya were suspected to be fronts for providing boys for sex. The operators used Spanish or Japanese when contacting their clients, making it difficult for police. A hotel in the Jomtien area was also under watch.

The source said three groups of foreigners came to Thailand to take pornographic pictures or movies of young boys. One group was from the United States, the second from Latin America and the third from Europe.

They used Thai or Russian boys. The groups sold their products through the internet and called themselves ``parno'' businessmen. ``Most of the Thai boys involved are drug addicts and unskilled workers at Pattaya and Jomtien beaches, mostly from the North and Northeast. They come from poor families and are uneducated,'' the source said.

Pol Maj-Gen Surapol Thanakoses, commander of Don Muang immigration police, said he had asked his men to watch for the four suspects.

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Then is updated by NewsRoom Finland today:

Finnish paedophile gets 11 years

2.12.2005 at 15:31

In the most serious sexual offence case in the history of the Finnish justice system, the Kouvola district court on Friday sentenced Jouko Petri Jaatinen, 43, to a prison term of 11 years.

The court found Jaatinen guilty of more than 160 sexual crimes, committed, bar one, in Thailand. Most of his victims were 12 to 13 years old when they were abused by Jaatinen.

/STT/

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with a bit of recent elaboration by Agence France-Presse:

Finn gets 11 years in prison for pedophilia in Thailand

Dec 02, 2005

Agence France-Presse

HELSINKI--A Finnish man was on Friday sentenced to 11 years in prison for committing more than 160 acts of pedophilia in Thailand since 1989, a Finnish court saidJouko Petri Jaatinen, 43, was found guilty of gross indecency, aggravated sexual abuse and purchasing sex from minors, in a trial held behind closed doors.

Most of Jaatinen's victims were young male prostitutes aged between 10 and 13. All but one of the alleged crimes were committed in Thailand, a country he has visited 26 times since 1989.

Jaatinen, who is originally from the southeastern town of Kymenlaakso, kept a diary containing information about each of his victims.

Finnish police were first made aware of his activities when he was mentioned in connection with a pedophilia case in Belgium.

He was arrested last January at Helsinki airport coming back from his latest trip to Thailand.

Finland's justice system is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing its courts to try crimes commited abroad.

Edited December 2, 2005 by sriracha john

[britmaveric]

Nah not even in the right country - start sniffing around Cambodia if they want capital of child sex trade!!!

[cdnvic]

This arguement has been done to death here already and almost always ends in flames.

/closed