A picture taken by Thai immigration authorities on 11 Oct. 2007 and released by Interpol on 15 Oct. 2007, shows "Vico," a man they have identified as Canadian Christopher Paul Neil. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- A Canadian schoolteacher suspected of pedophilia was arrested in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima, 250 km northeast of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, according to Thai police.

    Christopher Paul Neil, 32, had been hiding in the town of a Thai friend who used to arrange some of his sexual liaisons with boys, police said.

    Neil with his Thai boyfriend "went together to different provinces, probably on the run," tourist police chief Chuchart Suwannakom told the media.

    His hiding place was revealed by a trace on the cell phone of his boyfriend. "The last call made was from Nakhon Ratchasima," Chuchart said. "So I sent my men there."

    The hunt for Neil began after German police discovered about 200 online photographs of a man sexually abusing 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia three years ago.

    Last week, Interpol, the international police agency, issued a worldwide appeal for information in the case, and said the suspect had been working as an English teacher in South Korea and flew from Seoul to Bangkok last Thursday.

    An AP report said his face was digitally obscured, but a breakthrough in the case came when German police were able to reconstruct a recognizable image.

    Neil lived in Thailand from 2002 to early 2004, police said.

    A Thai youth contacted the police Wednesday after recognizing Neil's photograph on TV, and told the police that Neil paid him and another two boys to perform oral sex on Neil in 2003, they were aged 9, 13 and 14 at the time.

    Thai police issued a warrant for Neil's arrest on Thursday afterwards.

    Neil could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted in Thailand. It is not known whether Canada will seek extradition.

    But Canada's sex tourism laws allow prosecution for crimes committed abroad, as it can prosecute its citizens for child sex crimes committed abroad, according to Kim Scanlan from Toronto police child exploitation unit.

    (Agencies)