BigPondNews (Australia)
The British owner of an orphanage in Cambodia has been charged with a sex attack on a young boy in his care.
UK investigators joined dozens of police in a dawn raid on the centre where up to 100 children were rescued and moved to a safe home.
Nicholas Griffin, 52, was lead away for questioning as detectives and child protection specialists searched the orphanage, a fortress-like new building in countryside near Siem Reap.
The suspect had been under investigation by Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre for more than two years.
Welshman Griffin, who denies any wrongdoing, says he spent 'many years in social work, housing management and community work'.
He moved to Cambodia three years ago and set up several centres to help deprived and vulnerable children in what is one of the poorest countries in south-east Asia.
Griffin quickly established his Cambodia Orphan Fund, appealing for and receiving donations from the UK and elsewhere.
He was held, initially, on suspicion of flouting child labour laws and a breach of his orphanage licence.
The police interviewed the children and orphanage workers in a search for evidence that will now lead to a trial in Cambodia and a possible 10-year jail sentence.
CEOP's Andy Wells said, 'we got intelligence that this man was looking after children and he was assessed as extremely high-risk individual, so we asked a local child protection group to investigate.
'You only have to look at this new orphanage, in the middle of nowhere with a high wall around it. It looks more like a prison and you have to ask why.'
Cambodia is still emerging from the shadow of the bloody Khmer Rouge regime in which nearly two million people were killed.
Poverty, corruption and a lax legal system mean many children in the country are vulnerable to sex abuse, especially at the hands of Western paedophiles.
Griffin was being kept in custody to await a trial while his orphanage was effectively closed down.
His orphanage manager, a Cambodian man, was charged with the illegal removal of a child from its home to the orphanage.
CEOP staff are now involved in finding new accommodation for the orphans.
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