Swiss national arrested over pedophile case

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Sun, 10/26/2008 12:01 PM  |  Bali

Bali Police have arrested a Swiss national for his involvement in a pedophilia case in France, and are currently investigating whether a local underage Balinese girl was one of the victims, a police officer says.

The arrest was made Friday in response to a report from French Police through the Interpol earlier this year, Director of Bali Police's Crime Unit Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Nurwahid told a press conference.

The Swiss national, identified as Christian Burger, had been on the Interpol fugitive list for nearly a year after he was sentenced to four years in prison over a pedophile case by a panel of judges in France, Nurwahid said.

"If we find out that there are some locals involved, then we will bring him to the local court before he is extradited to the requesting country,"he said, Under Indonesian law, an international fugitive that commits crime while he or she is in Indonesia must be tried and jailed according to the country's legal system before he or she is able to be extradited.

Nurwahid said Burger was arrested at his rented house in Denpasar as soon as he arrived from Thailand on Sept. 16.

It took Nurwahid and his team some time to arrest the fugitive because,"we only received the Interpol request a short time ago,"he said.

He said Burger is now being detained at the Bali Police detention center for further questioning.

Nurwahid said the police found and confiscated two digital cameras, one laptop and dozens of photographs containing pictures of both naked adults and underage females, which were believed to be the pictures of Burger's victims.

"We will keep investigating because this man may work for an international human trafficking syndicate," he said.

Head of Bali Police's Children Protection Unit Comr. Sang Ayu Alit, who attended the press conference, said the police were collecting more information, not only from Burger, but also from his neighbors.

She was unable to say how many witnesses the police had already questioned.

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