Manhunt yields pedophile suspect clues

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 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.

The man was allegedly shown sexually abusing 12 young Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, apparently ranging in age from 6 to 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 recently released four reconstructed photos of him.

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 said it now knows the suspect’s name, nationality, date of birth and passport number, but it did not release that information. It said the man flew from Seoul, South Korea, to Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, with security cameras documenting his arrival at Thai immigration.

Interpol provided two new photos of the suspect Monday. One, taken by Thai immigration officials upon his arrival in Bangkok, showed him seemingly older, with close-cropped hair and wearing glasses. The other, which Interpol said was provided by an informant, was a simple head shot of the man, smiling and ruddy-faced.

Interpol’s decision to release the reconstructed photos was seen as being somewhat risky because it could have tipped off criminals to techniques police have at their disposal and prompted them to better hide their identities.

The photos date from before December 2004, when they were found on the Internet, Anders Persson, a police officer assigned to Interpol’s human trafficking unit, said last week. Some were digitally stamped as having been taken in 2002 and 2003, he said.

The boys believed to have been abused have not been located, Persson said.

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