Police in Nepal said Monday they have arrested a US national on suspicion of sexually abusing young boys. Police acting on a tip-off from an alleged victim arrested the 48-year-old man on Sunday in a hotel room in Kathmandu, where he was holed up with three boys.
"We arrested him red-handed from a room following complaints from some of his victims. Most are aged between 12 to 14," the head of Nepal's central investigation bureau Nawa Raj Silwal told AFP.
Police have also arrested a Nepali national who allegedly supplied the suspect with young boys from poor families, luring them with money and the promise of education and jobs. "They have both been remanded in police custody for six days as we investigate further on child molestation and human trafficking charges," he said, adding that the suspect had visited Nepal several times previously.
Weak law enforcement has made Nepal a destination for child sex tourism in the past. In March 2015, a Canadian orphanage volunteer was convicted of sexually abusing a 15-year-old disabled boy and sentenced to seven years in prison. In August 2012, Briton Simon Jasper McCarty pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys whom he met in Nepal. In December 2010, French charity worker Jean-Jacques Haye was convicted of raping 10 children in a Kathmandu orphanage.
Sexual abuse of minors carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison in Nepal. The US embassy in Kathmandu could not immediately be reached for comment.
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