ANGRY nudists chased down and surrounded a man they believed was secretly filming them in a naked citizens’ arrest at Adelaide’s Maslin Beach.

Police were called to the iconic nudist beach, south of Adelaide, after naked beachgoers chased down the man who was allegedly using a hidden camera concealed inside a blue esky.

George, who has been bathing unclad at Maslin Beach for the past eight years, said he was hanging out with friends on Sunday, December 21, when they noticed the man positioning his esky towards a couple.

“A couple of my friends noticed this guy rearranging his esky and one of them said ‘are there holes in the esky’ ... one woman walked past and saw a video camera set up inside,” he said.

“It had this wooden setup inside where he could put this little handicam and it had three or four holes where he could position this wooden frame and put the camera inside to line up with the hole.”

After being challenged, the man moved several hundred metres down the beach — only to again point his esky towards another couple.

George said the man was then chased down the beach, with his pursuer calling out “he’s got a camera”.

Up to 10 people, including George, took up the chase during which the alleged pervert discarded the esky.

“At one point there were about eight people surrounding this guy, he claimed you’re going to ruin my life, we said you’ve done this to yourself,” he said.

“We said we’re going to wait for the cops to come and if they say it’s okay to film people naked without them knowing then it’s not a problem but if they say it’s not okay then you are in trouble.”

George said the incident had shaken Maslin Beach regulars, who he said always looked out for each other’s welfare.

“Some people were quite agitated, one couple packed up and were ready to leave because they couldn’t handle having him around,” he said.

“I have been going down there for eight years and I have never seen anyone chasing anyone else down the beach.”

George said the man was naked other than wearing an Akubra hat, and was aged in his late 40s or early 50s with greying hair and tattoos.

“A few people have seen him before and one couple said that he had been known to upload film to a website, so it’s not just for his personal use apparently,” he said.

“It’s on a website that you need a credit card to access — I’m not going to pay $30 just to see if my own arse is on there.”

An SA Police spokesman confirmed officers were called to the scene but released the man with a warning because there was no hard evidence he was filming beachgoers.

George said the police called to the scene were understandably bemused by the incident.

“I don’t know what a cop’s normal Saturday or Sunday at work is like, but I doubt it involves them interviewing a naked guy on a beach with a bunch of naked people standing around them,” he said.

The southern section of Maslin Beach was designated as Australia’s first nude beach in 1975.

Originally published as Naked rage as nudists detain ‘pervert’