Anti-human trafficking police in Siem Reap arrested a Dutch citizen yesterday after he allegedly took naked photographs of 20 boys near a pagoda, according to police chief Duong Thavry.

Thavry said the man was identified as Saraot Evrard Nicoias, 53, who had come to Cambodia as a tourist every year since 2011. “Villagers reported that they saw a foreigner [who] took photos of young boys, naked, in a pond behind Aranh Sakor pagoda,” Thavry explained. “When we got there the suspect had already fled on his bicycle. [But] we found out he was staying at the New River Side Hotel and we arrested him there.”

Police searched the suspect’s camera and found thousands of photos of naked boys, Thavry said. The photos were taken yesterday morning.

The boys questioned said the suspect had paid them $3 each to pose for the photographs. The suspect sketched different poses on a piece of paper and would pay the boys if they imitated the poses in the drawing, they said. “None of the boys were over 15 years old,” Thavry said, adding that the suspect was still being questioned.