A BRITISH man was arrested in Siem Reap province yesterday  on suspicion of committing indecent acts against four children, police said.

Sun Bunthorng, chief of the provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection office, said the 54-year-old has been accused of sexually abusing four boys, and is currently being held at the provincial police station.

“We will send the suspect to court [today] to face two charges against the four boys,” he said.

Sun Bunthorng said the arrest was made after the boys told police that they were sexually abused by the man while they were working as book sellers at a souvenir shop he operated in Siem Reap.

“The boys told us that they were promised US$50 a month in October to work at the suspect’s souvenir shop, but they hadn’t yet worked for a month and had not gotten any money,” said Sun Bunthorng.

“They stopped working for him because they could not tolerate his sexual abuse against them.”

He added that the arrest was the result of cooperation between police and local child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants.

In a statement yesterday, APLE alleged that according to their investigations, the man lured the boys to work at a shop he ran at Siem Reap’s Old Market, where he then took advantage of them.

Sun Bunthorng said that during questioning by police, the accused denied any wrongdoing, which he said was “normal for the offender” in this type of situation.

“We believe that the suspect sexually abused the boys based on the victims’ hard testimonies, and we will try to collect more evidence when we are ordered by the court,” he said.