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Bombay cops to ask Interpol to help crack Swiss paedophile ring

BOMBAY (AFP) -- The Bombay police will seek Interpol's help in investigating an alleged paedophile ring centring on an elderly Swiss couple, an officer said on Tuesday.

"We are planning to ask Interpol for help today or tomorrow to help arrest the associates of these people," Senior Police Inspector Shirish Inamdar said.

Police on Saturday arrested Wilhelm Albin Marty, 59, and his wife Loshiar Mary Marty, 56, from a north Bombay luxury hotel and charged them with kidnapping and sexually molesting children.

A local court remanded them to police custody till Friday to enable further investigation.

Inamdar said the couple had been coming to Bombay every year for the past 10 years. "They had ensnared about 50 children so far in Bombay. We do not know if they have visited other parts of India. Their arrest has been a big breakthrough for us.

"We believe they are part of a larger network, with associates in Bombay and other parts of the world."

Inamdar said police expected more "significant breakthroughs" in the case in the next couple of days. "We have got ample proofs in this case. We caught this couple red-handed. As far as proofs go this case is watertight."

A city-based voluntary organisation tipped off the police about the couple's activities.

Police said the couple used to lure slum children by offering them expensive gifts and toys. "Their modus operandi was to show charity to poor children. After gaining their confidence the couple took the children to a luxury suburban hotel. They were then bathed and told to perform various sexual acts, some of them even with the couple."

Police alleged that the couple filmed the sexual acts and sold them to various Internet Web sites publishing pornography.

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