American, Aussie Arrested For Child Trafficing

[george]

Follow-up:

Thai arrest is a travel warning

BANGKOK: The arrest of an Australian man in Bangkok on paedophilia charges was a warning to all Australians who sought to sexually exploit children overseas, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty said.

Mr Keelty said the arrest of Robert Michael Scoble, 56, was a cooperative effort between the AFP and Royal Thai Police.

He said this was a good example of the type of joint operations the AFP was now conducting in Asia aimed at Australian paedophiles.

"Exploitation of children by Australians overseas is a high priority for the AFP and this recent arrest is also reflective of the importance the Thai authorities place on combating what is a terrible and unacceptable crime against defenceless children," he said in a statement.

"It is also a warning to other Australians who seek to exploit children overseas that the spotlight is now firmly on them." Scoble, who operates a travel business, was arrested Friday afternoon when Thai police raided his office and allegedly found material inviting customers to come to Thailand for sex tourism.

Scoble, long a resident of Thailand, denied the charges, police said.

"This man was arrested for trafficking boys (within Thailand), organising gay tours and illegal possession and dissemination of promotional pornographic material," Colonel Chote Kuladilok, chief investigator of immigration police, said in Bangkok.

An American suspected of working with Scoble in the scheme was also arrested and charged but his name was not immediately available, Chote said.

Mr Keelty said the police seized a large amount of material relating to child pornography including photos and home videos allegedly depicting western males engaging in sex with young children.

He said the AFP officers in Bangkok had worked closely with the newly formed Thai police unit investigating trafficking in women and children.

"We have been liaising and providing intelligence via the AFP international network to other law enforcement agencies throughout the region in an effort to identify possible criminal activity and those efforts have now been realised," he said.

If convicted, the men face a maximum three years in prison and a 20,000 baht fine (around $A666).

--AAP 2004-03-21

[ChiangMaiThai]

It seems that most members of the forum put an extraordinary amount of confidence and trust in the police. Anyone accused of a crime must be guilty.

[davethailand]

It seems that most members of the forum put an extraordinary amount of confidence and trust in the police. Anyone accused of a crime must be guilty.

as stated in my earlier post, IF they are guilty.

[kasi]

About 10 % of the world's population

Chiangpet: the 10% is an erroneous figure. Typical homosexual propogandizing distortion of the facts. There is no way 10% of the worlds population is gay. The figure is more like 1/10th of a percent of the worlds population is gay. That is just the way is and the way it will always be despite current homosexual propaganda.

Face it homosexuallity is only normal that 1/10th of a percent. For most of us it is not normal and is just tolerated. In Thailand homosexuality is only tolerated not accepted. That is reasonable.

Spare us the defense of some accused homosexual pedophiles with some false statistics..

Chiangpet are you a homophobe?

Let me explain how stupid you are.....

The number come from a study called the Kinsey research from 1948 and its suggests a 10% homosexual PRESENCE in the general population.

PRESENTS can be defined as thought or fantasy. Does not say they are actually gay. 10% has been come the defacto statement used by most of the world. It reality 2% - 3% percent are homosexually inclined.

Now you said 1/10th of a percen of the population is gay. I assume you have done a study on this? Please send us the link to your findings.

Also have to ask you how you can tell if someone is gay?

I am gay and when I worked in SF most people even the other gays had no Idea I was. You will find that that is the norm. You only see the exaggerated flamboyant look in a small percent of the gay population.

What the true % of the gay population is we might never know. Because thousands of people keep there true feelings repressed and follow the what is considered the norm. Just imagine if there was a world where you could love who you want..... And if you don't believe me, I can introduce you to 100s of men one women that came out in there 40 and 50's.

I understand this is a sensitive subject, I agree if the guy is setting up sex for boys under 18 he should be shot and left to rot.

However your statements are ridiculously closed mined and off the subject.

Randyksf: Go visit this link:

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/c...nl/crj0107a.txt

Just because I dont consider homosexuality normal does not make me a homophobe.

Just because I dont think of sodomizing young men as something gracefull does not make me a homophobe.

Why dont you check the definition of the word homophobe before you use it next time.

Again spare us the homosexual propoganda. The Kinsey study statistics were proven ridiculous many many years ago. Check the above link and see why.

So you have a preferance for stinking your penis up some other guys ass....thats fine for you but dont think for a second it is either normal or acceptable for the vast majority of the population.

Again I find the Thai perspective reasonable and refreshing. Homosexuals are tolerated but not accepted. Dont think for a second thailand would let anyone get away with a gay marriage for instance.

As far as being ridiculous and closed minded goes, trying to use a thread like this to propagandize homosexuality is more likely to the case of being ridiculous and closed minded. To suggest that someone is a homophobe because he does'nt think homosexuality either is normal or healthy is ridiculous and closed minded.

[PvtDick]

It really, really depresses me that there are still people like kasi out there. I just hope he's not in Thailand, but in some rural backwater having sex with his sister, where he belongs.

[Guest IT Manager]

THe way you properly deal with those and it is done in Thailand. Just take them out in the jungle and bury them up to their necks and put honey on them. Or no time just shoot them, save money and put them out of our misery!!

Bill

Does this mean Dave Yo is back?

[kasi]

It really, really depresses me that there are still people like kasi out there. I just hope he's not in Thailand, but in some rural backwater having sex with his sister, where he belongs.

PvtDick:

So if I'm not a homophobe then I'm an incestuous hillbilly? You should not take my inacceptance of homosexual doctrine so personaly, making snide derogatory remarks does not further your cause.

You should be carefull Thailand has not adopted the western frenzy of homosexual acceptance.

Does someone need to explain to you the difference between tolerance and acceptance?

here's another link for you.

http://www.catholicdoctors.org.uk/CMQ/Feb_...mosexuality.htm

[Guest IT Manager]

ENOUGH

Not even charges, merely an arrest.

Every time something like this comes up, and it isn't often in spite of the views of some, the arrested person is automatically guilty premised on "smoke and fire".

The thread will be closed if you continue to use one item of news as a reason to promote your personal hatreds or intolerances.

Be rational, be reasonable, or shut up.

IT/Admin

[Guest IT Manager]

Follow Up from Pattayagay Forum:

posted on 3-21-2004 at 05:39 AM

I am writing to give PattayaGay readers details about the events that took place at Utopia Tours' offices on Friday.

Our office in the Tarntawan Place Hotel was raided, as was our nearby corporte office, by Immigratin police and people who identified themselves verbally as tourism authorities. Virtually all computers and files were removed. Except for our female bookkeeper, everyone who was in the office at the time was detained. (Fortunately I was out of the office myself). Allegations were made during the raids about Utopia Tours' involvement in sex tourism. All company files and equipment were returned to our offices the same day.

The two directors and trainee were detained all night. Even though nobody had yet been charged with a crime, immigration authorities staged a news conference on Saturday morning. Laid out on the table before the three detainees was a pile of Thai Guys magazines siezed from our office.

Those of you who know us personally or have been our customers know that offering alternatives to sex tourism is the very foundation of our business. We are not now nor have we ever been involved in prostitution, pairing of our customers with local hosts or hostesses, or in the exploitation of children in any way.

Some suggestive photographs were displayed at the news conference. We have never had any such photos in our offices. I, too, am disturbed by the nature of these photos and have never seen them before. I want all of you to know that there is no connection whatsoever between our company and pornography of any kind, especially any that involves children. Allegations that we are somehow involved in trafficing of children are just plain ludicrous.

I want you to know that I am grateful for the supportive comments I have seen on this forum. The legal proceedings ahead promise to be lengthy, painful and costly. However, we are open for business, still serving our customers, still doing what we can to fight sex tourism, and intend to stay that way.

Douglas Thompson

Director of Marketing

Utopia Tours - Bangkok

[tracer0]

What' s all the hysteria about. These guys have not been convicted of anything yet. Lots of people have porno around the house and if you don't your kids will. I have been in the tour business in Asia for twenty odd years. We don't cater for anything in particular but I am aware of the simple fact that a percentage of our customers will visit prostitutes. Sollicited or unsollicited. Male or female.

About 10 % of the world's population is gay and there are many companies, operating worldwide, that exclusively cater for a gay clientele. These companies would never get involved in anything related  to prostitution. They just cater for a certain market segment. Like everyone else in business.

Perhaps these guys just happened to have a company that caters for the gay market and privately they happened to own some gay pornographic material because they happened to like it. Hey, no reason to start throwing stones.

If proved that they were actually providing underage male prostitutes, there is still enough time to get back to the rockpile.

For people whose businesses have been suffering under the onslaught of terrorism, Sars, chicken shit and the war in Iraq. Try the gay scene. They are usually happy people who like a bit of luxury and are willing to pay for it. They are happy tippers and most of them don't get obnoxious when they get plastered. Sometimes I wish that somewhere on the way my own company had made the diversion to exclusively cater for gays.

Sounds like a sting or problem with someone who planted material...

Has happened before...

Anyway, working with computers if everything illegal I saw was reported likely I could close shop and 99% of my customers could be picked up. One guy had 9 gb of Japanese sex on a hardisk... some other one had people committing suicide, other one, gay loads of stuff. As he is running a hotel I adviced him I would prefer him to remove the stuff and keep it at home...

Anyway if I do diskrecoveries I tend to loose that stuff....

I had a good look at the photos though as while I am not gay I donot mind seeing what they like.

Had a chat and found out that for him getting a date was more complicated then for us wanting a lady as 2 cocks are involved, and they have to be both willing... Never thought about that...

Anyway its absolutely silly to blame anyone due to police reports. Give me a 1000 baht for every fake accusation, and I have more money then Mr T.

[george]

Update:

Ex-diplomat on child sex charge

A FORMER Australian diplomat named in Parliament almost a decade ago over alleged pedophile activities has been arrested in Bangkok.

Robert Michael Scoble, 56, was arrested by the Royal Thai Police and Australian Federal Police in a joint operation.

The travel agent was charged with offences relating to the promotion of Thailand for sex tourism, for disseminating child pornography and "trafficking boys".

He is reported to have denied the charges. Mr Scoble is a former diplomat who was once acting ambassador in Vietnam.

In 1995, former Victorian Liberal MP Ken Aldred named Mr Scoble and a group of up to 15 senior serving and ex-Australian diplomats as being involved in pedophile activities.

Several of the men have since been charged. Mr Scoble's activities were first exposed in 1985 when he was caught sending child pornography to associates using a diplomatic bag. However, according to Mr Aldred's speech to the Parliament, heavyweight political contacts helped him land a job with Telstra.

Mr Scoble was the subject of two Australian Federal Police inquiries including Operation Arizona and Project Mandrake.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said the arrest was a warning to all Australians who sought to sexually exploit children.

"Exploitation of children by Australians overseas is a high priority. This arrest is also reflective of the importance the Thai authorities place on combating what is a terrible and unacceptable crime against defenceless children," he said.

A US citizen working with Mr Scoble was also charged. If convicted, they face a maximum three years in prison.

--Herald Sun 2004-03-22

[randyksf]

kasi

Anyone one who would say Homosexual propaganda is a homophobe. You talk about is such a passionate and descriptive way. Are you trying to tell us something?

Christian Research Journal is where your link is from. If you can print something from a medical center such as UCLA, Harvard, etc. Then I will read it. It?s publicly known that the Christian Research is slanted to fit the needs of the bible.

The only thing gay people want; is to be accepted for who we are and to have the same legal rights as anyone else.

Let me ask you this one question. If homosexuality was discovered to be a genetic. For example right handed vs. left handed. Would you still look down on it?

[george]

Accused envoy given references

A FORMER senior diplomat arrested in Bangkok last week on child pornography charges had resigned from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade after sending child porn photographs through diplomatic bags.

Robert Michael Scoble, a former deputy ambassador to Hanoi, resigned in 1985 over the scandal but was still given positive references from DFAT which helped secure him a job with Telstra (then OTC Australia) in Hanoi.

The federal Government has refused to reveal who gave the references, saying "it would be contrary to public interest" because to do so had the "potential to cause harm to the reputation of those individuals".

Fresh allegations of pedophile activities were again raised while Mr Scoble worked for Telstra. He was asked to return from Vietnam after Australian Federal Police revealed the allegations to his employer. Mr Scoble resigned, but denied any wrongdoing.

The Australian has learned that Mr Scoble was also named in a list of suspected pedophiles given to the AFP in 1996 by whistleblower Alastair Gaisford.

Mr Gaisford claimed earlier this year the allegations had never been properly investigated. "Something should have been done about this before now," he said yesterday.

A DFAT spokeswoman yesterday praised the police operation leading to Mr Scoble's arrest.

Persistent allegations of pedophilia against diplomats resulted in a departmental inquiry in 1996 – The Management Response to Allegations of Pedophile Activity within the Foreign Affairs Portfolio.

The inquiry was not asked to investigate the claims of pedophile activity among officials. It did investigate the department's process in handling the allegations and found there had been no cover-up or sanctioning of pedophilia.

Mr Gaisford maintains that his claims were not subsequently properly investigated because he was dismissed as a "disgruntled DFAT officer".

It has also been recently reported that allegations were also given to the inquiry about former Australian diplomat William Stuart Brown, who is now facing charges in Bali of molesting children.

Mr Scoble, who was reported to have been working as a travel agent in the Thai capital, was arrested on Friday after a joint operation involving the Royal Thai Police and the AFP.

A search of Mr Scoble's home before the arrest allegedly revealed evidence of child pornography, including photographs and home videos showing Western men having sex with young children.

--The Australian, AU, 2004-03-22

[kasi]

kasi

Let me ask you this one question. If homosexuality was discovered to be a genetic. For example right handed vs. left handed. Would you still look down on it?

Randyksf:

The reality is I do not look down on homosexuals wether they were born that way or it was a lifestyle choice. Having homosexuals in the world is a fact of life. Always has been, always will be.

I also acknowledge the fact that some of the most brilliant and creative people in the world are homosexual.

The only issue I have with homosexuality is the use of a distorted and flawed study to promote a lifestyle. Hence my use of the phrase "homosexual propaganda".

The kinsey study is largely the basis for the modern concept of" homosexuality as a lifestyle choice". It is not an honest study hence those making lifestyle choices based on that information are being manipulated. The distorted facts of the kinsey study are widely used to rationalize many people's choice to join the homosexual lifestyle. That is my concern.

Whether or not you are a homosexual or not is not my concern right up to the point where someone tries to stick his tongue down my throat. And that has happenned to me a few times and that's where I draw the line.

I believe that homosexuals should be tolerated and gain acceptance under the law as individuals. But I think that the type of acceptance should fall short of the current marriage frenzy.

When you say all you want is acceptance for who you are, that's fine.

When I see dishonesty and bigotry being used to futher that cause forgive me if I dont believe you.

By the way to accuse me of being a homophobe is a form of bigotry.

For me it is not a matter of choice to be a homosexual or not. I am simply not wired that way. Does that make me a homophobe too?

I know that the idea of hetrosexual sex is distastefull to many homosexuals. Yet I have never heard of anyone being accused of "hetrophobia". And so what if you were called a hetrophobe?

Is it a bad word?

Homophobia seems to be a very bad word and a very easy one for a homosexual to use when talking about someone who has a discenting viewpoint.

It does'nt seem to be a two way street if you see what I mean.

So not only is there some dishonesty at work there seems to be a level of hypocrisy as well.

http://www.davidicke.net/tellthetruth/coverups/reisman.html

http://www.inoohr.org/kinseyconnection.htm

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=3

http://www.literatus.net/essay/KinseyReport.html

[Moving]

Australian faces Thai child trafficking charges...This topic is really bouncing around...but there appears to be common stuff:

1) Can't trust the Royal Thai Police, cannot trust the press, cannot trust Immigration Authorities, cannot trust Australian Federal Police...There doesn't seem to be a topic that at some point doesn't elicit comments on both political and police corruption and a general distrust, dislike and absolutely "zero" confidence in the Thai political/legal system.

2) Personal interpretation, objective and subjective. Guess that is what the "Forum" is all about.

3) Heterosexuals and homosexuals alike take great joy in "out intellectualizing" each other...a bash for a bash...

4) Now as more information becomes available, the recent articles (posted by George) regarding the Australian's history have been interesting...the Aussie seems to have walked the razor's edge for sometime. It will be interesting to see what side of the razor he falls or whether he straddles it?

5) I notice that the gay community is rallying to the Aussie's support...a righteous and upright sort of fellow that doesn't dabble in marketing male children. I went to the web-site, pretty benign and gives no indication of anything other that a tourist agency for gays. Of course I didn't dig to deep, begin to feel that I was looking for something that I was not looking for...maybe I am homophobic??

[et33.com]

all the problems

started

because

sex is deem a dirty word

and the time has come

to teach them

about the birds and the bees

from age three

and the dangers and diseases

of rotten sex...

send them to break ice in iceland...

[wisi]

IF THEY ARE GUILTY,

DEPORT THEM BACK TO THEIR COUNTRIES AND LOCK THEM UP FOR A MINIMUM OF 3 YEARS AND MAKE IT KNOWN TO THEIR FAMILIES AND THE PUBLIC WHAT THEY DID AND WHY THEY ARE LOCKED UP.

Only 3 Years, lock them up for a longtime. ###### perverts.

[meadish_sweetball]

Who knows what is really going on? If they have actually found a child trafficer, congratulations.

I get this sneeking suspicion that the guy may have made himself undesirable in some other way though.

There is no other slander as effective as sexual exploitation of children... except for exploitation of male children. If you want to get rid of somebody or destroy his/her business/career/life, this should be the most effective way.

Who knows though, in the end?

[PvtDick]

Abuse of little boys is somehow more heinous than abuse of little girls? I believe an explanation might be in order.

[elephantspike]

These people are innocent. The so called porn they found is "Thai Guys" Magazine; Hardly porn at all.

Kasi: You are a congenital idiot. I pity you and all who are stupid enough to believe your lies.

[englishoak]

After following this thread for a while It seems to be obvious that the Aussie is not whiter than white. After a suspicion a while ago by the Australian authorities they have found it necessary to follow this ex-pat to another country and also found grounds to take it further. I agree it would not take a lot for the Thai police to "find evidence" so I am reserving judgment.

One thing is fact however this man has continued to work in a business not wholly respected by the community in general, and being an intelligent sort I am surprised he would want the attention running such a business.

If guilty the association with the gay community will have a very unfortunate backlash. It will be very sad to see the REAL homophobes having a stick to beat them with, as it's just what they would love. It's bad enough having intolerance in society but when a sector protects a guilty member then intolerance is seen as justified.

The gay community could do worse than set up its own enquiry unbiased and what information may be found then printed for all to see, condemning or protecting just as loudly. Rallying to the defence of someone over an issue like this is as stupid as pre-judging them.

If innocent a full apology by both the Thai and Aussie Governments would be good...... ( yeah right! )

If however this guy is guilty in any way than I really hope his life goes to shit and no way is the penalty strong enough.

Having child molester tattooed on his forehead for all to see! ( Before he went inside! ) would be a start, the rest ? ......... is unprintable !

[Moving]

Englishoak's post was very good...

I would add that the issue, at least as I see it, is not hetero vice homo...but commercial trafficking in young males for pedophiles...

I think that 18 is the age for consent in Thailand?...anything less than that is suspect and if it is pre-teens than it should be considered pedophile.

The other issue that seems to be emerging...

I don't know how you balance justifiable pursuit of pedophiles, or for that matter any criminal activity, with the prejudices and suspicions of law enforcement agencies...

Any arrests seem to be immediately suspect and are viewed as a having "alternative motives" (bribery and corruption). Is it a common perception that one can, from the bottom-up, "buy" Royal Thai Police and that big business, through their associations with politicians, can assert their control from the top-down?

No government can long survive in this environment unless you take away ALL CIVIL LIBERTIES. Is Thailand beginning down this path?

[bkkguy]

No government can long survive in this environment unless you take away ALL CIVIL LIBERTIES.  Is Thailand beginning down this path?

beginning down this path? civil liberties have never been a strong point here!

bkkguy

[misbah]

Anybody involved in child pornography should face the maximum penalty the law allows. There is no place for them in society, they also give visitors a bad name.

[george]

Seized videos show child sex

BANGKOK: -- THE hundreds of videos, video CDs and photographs seized in a raid on the Bangkok office of former Australian diplomat Robert Michael Scoble, 55, include explicit scenes of Western men having sex with Thai boys.

The images, seen by The Australian yesterday, were packaged in home-made VCDs, with labels itemising their contents by referring to the boys by age.

Police seized at least 100 CDs, another 100 photographs and 20 videos, along with almost two bookcases filled with magazine pornography, in their raid on the Spice Trade Tour company on Friday, which followed an anonymous letter to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

In one such VCD seen by The Australian, Thaiboys181, the label says the footage includes "16 sucked on by 12, who protests toothache". Another reference indicates a scene's image has "eight good white spurts".

While the numbers appear to refer to the age of the boys involved, police have been unable to charge Mr Scoble with sexual assault against children because he does not appear in the videos.

In one video, a middle-aged Western man uses handcuffs to truss up a boy who appears to be aged 12. In others, the man is clearly shown having anal sex with another boy of about the same age. In most cases the boys appear bored and uninterested, but there are instances of them trying to avoid sex.

Police have charged Mr Scoble and two business associates, American John Charles Goss and Italian Daniele Gregori, with trafficking pornography on the internet. They have been released on bail.

--The Australian 2004-03-24

[george]

Agency 'front for pedophiles'

Robert Scoble after being charged.

BANGKOK: -- Thai police have accused former Australian diplomat Robert Scoble of running a secret child-sex recruitment network behind the facade of one of South-East Asia's biggest gay tourism agencies.

Senior police officers told The Age that they had found more than 100 albums containing explicit photographs of boys - some believed to be as young as 10 - during a raid on the luxury Bangkok apartment of the former deputy ambassador to Vietnam and senior Telstra executive.

"They were like catalogues and we believe he was sending these pictures to people overseas," said Major Choowong Uthaisang of the Royal Thai Police immigration department, who lead the raid.

Major Choowong said they had also seized computer picture files of a man they believed to be Scoble engaged in sexual acts with several prepubescent boys.

The department's Lieutenant-Colonel Pichit Itthipalacahai said Scoble, 56, and American business partner John Charles Goss were believed to have used their Bangkok travel agency, Spice Trade Travel, as a front to introduce foreign pedophiles to Thai children.

The two men were arrested on Friday after a month-long surveillance operation, which followed information supplied by the Australian embassy in Bangkok and complaints to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

"There is evidence that they were supplying boys to tourists coming to Thailand, and we are looking at further charges," Colonel Pichit said.

Scoble and Goss were charged on Saturday with distributing pornography and employing an unregistered foreign worker in their travel agency, which operates from an office suite in the Tarntawan Place Hotel - a boutique hotel popular with homosexual travellers on the fringes of Bangkok's infamous Patpong nightclub district.

After a brief court appearance, the two men were released on bail. Their passports were impounded and they were ordered not to leave Thailand.

Spice Trade Travel, co-founded by Scoble in the mid-1990s, markets package tours throughout South-East Asia to homosexual travellers.

An affiliated website, utopia-tours.com, boasts that the company "pioneered gay and lesbian travel in South-East Asia".

At the agency's office yesterday, a middle-aged American man who refused to give his name said Scoble would not talk to journalists.

"We are being crucified in the newspapers in Australia. There is some terrible innuendo being published," he said. "One woman has written some very libellous stuff and we're going to sue the panties off her."

Police say that during the raid on Scoble's apartment in an upscale neighbourhood popular with Thai politicians and movie stars, they found a huge cache of pornographic material including magazines, personal photographs, video cassettes and computer disks.

Travel business partners John Goss

(seated, wearing tie) and Robert

Scoble (seated, right) surrounded by

Royal Thai Police immigration

department officials.

Major Choowong said the material included more than 100 albums of photographs of young teenage and pre-teen boys clothed, naked and in various explicit sexual poses.

He showed The Age images, found on a computer in the apartment, of a stocky, middle-aged man with receding grey hair, his face digitally masked, having sex with young boys.

In one set of pictures, the man is lying on a bed performing oral sex on a prepubescent boy while another naked boy is standing beside them. In a second set, the man is performing oral sex on another boy. "We believe it is Scoble and we think the boy is only 10 or 12 years old," Major Choowong said.

Colonel Pichit said that if investigations confirmed his identity, Scoble would face further charges of sexually abusing minors.

He said Scoble, who denied being a pedophile, had broken down after being told he would be charged with distributing pornography, which carries a maximum penalty of three years' jail.

"He was crying, he was very upset when we sent him to the police station to be charged," he said. "When we first brought him in here, he thought we were just doing a routine check and that he would be freed."

Scoble, a career diplomat who held postings in Thailand and Vietnam, where he served for a time as acting ambassador, resigned from the Foreign Affairs Department in 1985 after a scandal involving pictures of young boys sent through diplomatic mail. He denied any wrong-doing and said the images had been sent as an innocent joke.

Scoble, a former president of the prestigious Oxford Union, later worked as Telstra's manager for Vietnam and regional manager for South-East Asia.

--The Age, Australia 2004-03-24

[george]

Thai child pornography charges laid against former Australian diplomat

A former Australian diplomat is due to appear in court in Thailand today on child pornography charges.

Police say they found more than 100 sexually explicit video tapes at the home of 55-year-old Robert Scoble.

Our correspondent, Peter Lloyd, reports from Bangkok Scoble is charged with trafficking pornography on the internet and illegally hiring an employee at his Bangkok business, Spice Trade Travel.

A public relations company acting for the agency, has issued a statement emphatically denying any knowledge of Scoble's alleged activities and revealed that the former diplomat has resigned from all positions with the company.

--ABC Radio Australia News 2004-03-26

[george]

Official Statement of Utopia Tours re Raid

This is the official statement of Utopia Tours regarding the raid on their premises at Tarntawan Hotel in Bangkok.

Official statement of Utopia Tours:

As you may already know, our offices in the Tarntawan Place Hotel and the

CCT Building were raided by Thai law enforcement authorities on Friday, 19

March 2004. Computers and files were removed. Except for our female

bookkeeper, everyone who was in the office at the time was detained.

Virtually all of the items removed from our offices at that time were

returned later that same day.

Following a news conference staged by Thai immigration police on Saturday

morning, 20 March, four Thai newspapers published separate accounts of the

incident. All of these stories included serious inaccuracies and some were

filled with total fabrications. The articles related that a variety of very

damaging charges had been filed when in actuality no charges had yet been

brought against anyone at the time of the news conference.

Later on Saturday, Robert Scoble, an Australian national, was charged with

cooperating in the trade of obscene materials.

In addition, a management trainee was charged with a work permit violation,

and one of our other partners was also taken into custody for a work permit

technicality (later dropped) but was subsequently charged along with Mr.

Scoble. We do not believe that there is any evidence to implicate this

partner and that he will be absolved of any wrongdoing in court. We believe

that the raid on our company was entirely due to an investigation of

charges against Mr. Scoble which were raised by the Australian embassy in

Bangkok and that our other staff and partners were unfortunately swept up

into this inquiry.

A number of allegedly obscene items were found in Robert Scoble's home. We

have not seen these so it would be totally inappropriate for us to comment

on them. However, Mr. Scoble has acknowledged in writing that all

questionable items held by the police were found in his home and that no

such items were found in our offices. Mr. Scoble has resigned from all

positions he held within the company.

Our company has neither been accused nor charged with any crime whatsoever.

We are open for business as usual and there has been no interruption in

customer care.

Those who know us personally or have been our customers know that offering

positive alternatives to sex tourism is the very foundation of our

business. We are not now nor have we ever been involved in prostitution,

pairing of our customers with local hosts or hostesses, or in the

exploitation of children in any way.

We are extremely grateful for the supportive email and offers of help we

have received from our many friends in Thailand and abroad. We thank you

for thinking of us at this difficult time. We look forward to a speedy

resolution of the legal matters resulting from this incident.

Douglas Thompson

Director of Marketing

Utopia Tours - Bangkok

[george]

Update:

Australian faces Thai court on child-sex charges

BANGKOK: -- A Thai court has granted a police request to delay the formal filing of child sex charges against an Australian former senior diplomat and his American business partner.

Australian Robert Scoble and American John Goss, were arrested last Friday and accused by police of running a paedophile ring which trafficked boys to foreign men.

Both appeared in court briefly but were ordered to return next week.

The court remanded the men to appear on April 1st, with police likely to file formal charges then.

A police case officer said more time was needed to complete investigations.

Both men were 18-hundred US dollars bail.

It is alleged 56-year-old Scoble, who operates a travel business in Bangkok, was using his agency as a front to introduce foreign men to Thai boys.

He served as the Australian embassy's number two diplomat in Hanoi in the 1980s and was placed under internal investigation by Australia's department of foreign affairs for disseminating pornographic photographs.

He later worked as an executive for Australia's telecommunications giant Telstra.

--RA 2004-03-27

[george]

Update:

Australian man re-arrested in taxi after Bangkok court hearing

BANGKOK: A former Australian diplomat facing child sex charges in Bangkok has been re-arrested.

South East Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd reports:

"Robert Schoble came to court to pay a $AUD1,000 bail bond. The 55 year old had been released last Friday after his arrest for trafficking pornography on the internet. But immigration authorities say Schoble poses a flight risk, so today they rearrested him as he left court in a taxi. The ex-diplomat will now be kept in custody for his trial before eventually being deported to Australia."

--RA 2004-03-27