FROM ANDREW DRUMMOND, BANGKOK
March 30 2010
Pictures: Berm, Chiang Mai
Roger Pettit
A British pensioner, who allegedly trawled
the Northern capital of Chiang Mai for hill tribe children, today faces
the rest of his life in jail after being seized on drugs and child
sexual abuse and charges.
Roger Leslie Pettit, 67, from Brighton, who
police said had a history of child sex abuse in Britain, was arrested
early today at a condominium in the city in a joint operation between
Britain’s CEOP – and the Thai Police Woman and Children’s Department.
A statement from the Royal Thai Police said police obtained a court warrant after interviewing a 13-yr-old boy known as ‘Aek’.
‘Pettit who had made several trips to Thailand was wanted in connection
with sexual offences against hill tribe children’ said a Thai police
spokesman.
He added: ‘While searching his flat police also found, sex toys,
pornographic movies, aphrodisiacs, and 42 methamphetamine tablets’.
Pettit was charged with drugs possession, child sexual abuse, and removing a child from his parents control without permission.
Chiang Mai and local regional provinces are the home to many hill
tribes, common to Burma, Laos, Thailand and China. They include the
Karen, Lisu, Wa, Akha, and Shan.
*Child Exploitation and Online Protection headed by Jim Gamble.
