Paedophiles may follow tsunami

2005-01-10 12:48

Sydney - Australian authorities have 155 paedophiles on watch for fear they will travel to tsunami-affected Asian countries and trawl for victims among the orphaned, the homeless and the distressed.

Police are monitoring listed sex offenders to prevent them from leaving the country undetected, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday.

The level of alert was raised after reports that children were being offered for sale in Indonesia, the country worst affected by the Boxing Day tidal wave.

Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said action had not yet been triggered because no known offender had tried to leave the country. "But if it is we would alert the local authorities," he said.

Keelty would not comment on reports that child traffickers were offering up for adoption those supposedly orphaned by the tsunami.

The paper quoted Bernadette McMenamin, director of leading child protection group Child Wise, as saying that Thailand and other Asian countries were already infested with paedophiles exploiting impoverished children.

"The emergency has exacerbated an existing problem," she said. "We have been concerned with this problem for years. Now it's been exacerbated by this catastrophe." - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA