Three Dutch people caught in Nepal child sex abuse case
A 75-year-old man from Tilburg was arrested on Friday in Nepal on suspicion of criminal acts connected to pedophilia. Police in the Netherlands arrested a 46-year-old man at his house in Zuid-Holland in connection with the case, the public prosecutor said in a statement.
Another man in Amsterdam was believed to be in custody, children's rights organization Terres des Hommes told Het Parool. Prosecutors would only confirm that the Zuid-Holland home and other properties in the south of the Netherlands were searched by investigators.
Among the items seized at the four properties were data devices, passports, and other documents. The public prosecutor said more arrests are possible.
Police forces in Nepal were able to track down the suspect, Henk K., thanks to the children's rights organization Terres des Hommes, the organization said. The special cyberspace project focused on human behavior claims that about 350 Dutch tourists were taken down, many accused of sex crimes involving children, thanks to the group's work.
According to an investigator with the organization, Gideon van Aartsen, "child sex tourists often in their social media have all kind of friendships in countries where child sex tourism is an issue." This explains why most of Henk K.'s 128 Facebook's friends are teenagers from Nepal, the organization said, according to RTL Nieuws.
The children's rights organization has been working for some time together with different airlines to keep track of the suspect's journeys. It was thanks to this cooperation that the organization discovered that Henk K. had been traveling to Nepal for decades, and even bought a house there.
Terre des Hommes is expected to clarify its work in cooperation with the Netherlands Public Prosecutor and the Team Bestrijding Kinderpornografie en Kindersekstoerisme (Team Fighting against Child Pornography and Child Sex Tourism), it said. The clarification is expected on Monday.
