Dutchman arrested for alleged child sex abuse

DSI deputy director-general Songsak Raksaksakul briefs reporters on the arrest of the Dutch suspect at the DSI headquarters in Bangkok on Monday. (Pornprom Satrabhaya)

A Dutchman arrested in Prachuap Khiri Khan province for alleged sexual abuse of a child aged 15 or under had earlier been investigated for an alleged similar offence before leaving the Netherlands.

Songsak Raksaksakul, deputy director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), told a media briefing on Monday that Reinold Klunder, 51, was arrested at house 106/12 in Bo Fai community of Hua Hin district on Sunday.

A boy aged about 10 years was with him. Sex toys, eight computers, many memory cards and compact discs were seized. Body fluids were found on blankets and bed sheets.

"Police charged Mr Klunder with molesting a child and separating the child from his parents for paid molestation," Pol Col Songsak said. The investigation was being expanded.

Mr Klunder had moved to Thailand from the Netherlands, he said. In his homeland he had allegedly been charged with child molestation, but was not convicted.

In Thailand, he had been in the property business for five years. He allegedly played music to lure children into sharing activities with him.

Investigators said he had regularly taken children aged 15 or under to his house. Dutch authorities had asked Thai authorities to collect evidence against him, Pol Col Songsak said.

He warned that child sex abuse was growing in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations. Foreigners who were released temporarily after such offences in Thailand often then repeated them in Cambodia, Myanmar or Vietnam.

In Thailand, child sex abuse was reported frequently in Chon Buri (113 offences since 2010), Chiang Mai (25 offences) and Bangkok (seven). The problem had already also reached Nan and Phayao provinces.