AN Australian tourist was released without charge by Preah Sihanouk provincial police on Wednesday, after he was called in for questioning for being suspected of committing indecent acts against several underage boys.

The 61-year-old man was asked to come to the provincial police station, where he stayed overnight for questioning, before being released.

Police summoned the man following a tip-off from child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE).

According to a press release issued by APLE on Wednesday, the organisation alerted authorities about the Australian after he was suspected of “sexually abusing several young boys from a poor community”.

But Be Sovanna, chief of the provincial Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau, said interrogations following the tip-off proved fruitless.

“After interrogating him from late Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon, we found no evidence of him committing indecent acts against several boys,” he said.

Chor Heng, deputy chief of the Bureau, said no complaints were filed against the man by any of the alleged victims.

“We did not arrest him, we just invited him to the station for interrogation based on our suspicions,” he said.

“We don’t have any complaints from any of the boys yet.”