Greyman Blog

On November 11, 2009, a joint operation with the Thai CWD, Region 5 Police, Swiss Police, Forensic Police and The Grey Man resulted in the arrest of a former  Swiss banker, Cornel Josef Wietlisbach.  The arrest made the front page of a number of Thai newspapers as well as Blick newspaper in Switzerland.  After receiving intelligence from a young boy who had been abused a Grey Man surveillance team watched the suspects hotel room and noticed a number of Akha hill tribe boys going to Wietlisbach’s room.  Ethnic minority groups, such as the Akha, are a typical target of peadophiles due to their poverty.On the basis of the testimony of the young boy and the surveillance material  an arrest warrant was issued.  In the joint operation Wietlisbach opened the door and a police officer then told him that he was under arrest on the charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of fifteen. The suspect showed some resistance to his arrest but finally calmed down. The police announced his basic rights and took him into custody. There were two boys sleeping in the bed and they were taken to the police station in a separate vehicle.

Searching suspects room

Wietlisbach denied all charges and refused to say a word until his lawyer arrived.  A search of his room found an external Flash Drive and a digital camera contained pictures of unidentified naked boys.  Other forensic evidence was also collected.

Wietlisbach was denied bail and his court case will be scheduled for 2010.  A nice christmas present for Grey Man but no happy new year for Wietlisbach.

Cheers

John Curtis

Wietlisbach arrested

Thai-Burmese border crossing at Mae Sai

We received this e-mail below from a gentleman in Mae Sai, on the Thai-Burmese border.  We met with him 6 months ago as part of increasing our intelligence network and recently it paid off.

‘Hi John

Late this afternoon we were informed by one of our children (boy aged about 10 yrs) who visits our Drop in Centre (DiC) that he has regularly been sexually abused by a man who also comes into our DiC. On making further enquires my staff inform me that this man has also abused three 3 young girls two sisters aged 9 & 12, another girl aged 7 and possibly a girl aged about 4………I do not know who I can trust in the local police as some would not deal with this situation in a professional way, therefore I do not know who to contact.  I am aware that you have trustworthily contacts and would appreciate some urgent advice……’

The children were part of the never-ending flow of children who are trafficked into begging gangs and end up homeless on the streets of Mae Sai.  Grey Man immediately put our Thai Director of Operations on to it.  Within a short space of time the children had been secured, taken to hospital to be checked, the police informed and children taken to be interviewed under the care of Grey Man personnel.  They were then taken to a shelter that we have good connections with for their protection. 

Luckily, the Burmese perpetrator was found to be in custody on another charge and we simply added rape and a variety of other charges to his sheet.  He will be sentenced very soon and will do jail time.  The children are safe and happy.  It isn’t usually as easy as this but we were very happy with the outcome.

The following recent email from the gentleman running the drop in centre says it all:

‘Dear John

Many thanks for your contribution in the recent situation, it was appreciated. I will definitely contact Grey Man should we encounter similar situations again.  The police handled the case professionally and it was in court in a record time. I would like to think that this was due to their concerns and commitment, however it is more likely because they knew your team was overseeing the operation. 

Kind words and possibly true but we had good co-operation from the Mae Sai police and we thank them for their assistance.  They don’t always have the resources to follow up every case of abuse but they do their best.  Sometimes they just need a little help.

This was a good day.

John Curtis

In April this year Grey Man was asked to assist the Crimes Against Women and Children Division (CWD) of the Royal Thai Police in an operation in Pattaya, Thailand. 

Pattaya

Reliable information alleged that a group of foreign tourists were abusing young boys of 14-15 years of age.  Further investigation confirmed that a group of men, Swedish, English, and Australian were involved. The Royal Thai Police, Nordic Police and Customs, Swedish National Crime police and Grey Man operatives began a joint investigation, codenamed Snapper.  

Joint planning for Operation Snapper

As it turned out, two of the gang  were well known to Swedish police, due to their previous history.  On 12^th May, with the assistance of Grey Man funding and personnel, the CWD arrested three of the suspects at an apartment located in Banglamung, Pattaya. They were Swedish and British nationals all aged in their 60’s. A further eight suspects are still at large, but Police have enough evidence to arrest them.  Two are known to have escaped Thailand: one a Western tourist and the other a Thai man known as Pan.  All are being hunted presently by International police.

Thailand’s Child Protection Division’s Police Major General Chaiwat Gaetworachai said that the arrested had abused many children in the Pattaya area.   During the arrests, Police officers found and confiscated sex toys, still and video cameras, computers and a photo album of naked children.  If found guilty they face long prison sentences.  Although a number of the ring are still at large, due to the fact that some were out of the country when the arrest warrants were issued, we believe they will all be caught in the near future and that the children of Pattaya are slightly safer due to our efforts. 

One of the young victims points out the suspects

Many boys were interviewed to gather evidence against these people and we respect their courage in being willing to make statements and testify in court. 

Every child abuser that we arrest prevents the future abuse of many children.  Our thanks to the CWD and the members of the Scandinavian Police units involved and especially to our Grey Man operatives who were instrumental in the arrest of these men.

These operations are funded by you so we can only do what you allow us to do.  A big thankyou to all the Grey Man supporters worldwide who enable us to continue this great work to protect children.

John Curtis