By Adam Ray
Police figures provided to 3 News show arrest warrants are outstanding for more than 20 alleged paedophiles, most of whom have fled overseas.
Detectives have sought extradition orders for some of them, but they have no idea where the rest of them are.
Woo-Young Kim is wanted in Rotorua for offences against children. He was arrested seven years ago but was allowed to leave the country on bail.
“He was given special dispensation to return to Korea and failed to return, so we'd love information as to his whereabouts,” says Detective Rod Drew, national crime manager.
Kim is one of 21 alleged paedophiles to have gone on the run since 2004. All but two of them are thought to have fled overseas.
Extradition orders are being sought for seven of the 19 offenders, leaving 12 of unknown whereabouts, although five have Interpol alerts to catch them crossing an international border.
Police have a range of options to stop an alleged offender leaving the country, such as asking a court to deny bail or seize a passport, or alerting immigration officials.
“In these cases one has to presume that hasn't happened and they've managed to slip the net before they were captured,” says Mr Drew.
If an offender is found overseas, New Zealand law allows extradition from any country. But such cases are more common with the likes of Australia, the UK, and the United States.
“The world is a global village,” says Mr Drew. “It’s very easy to jump on a plane and disappear to parts of the world where it’s very difficult for police to track you down.”
The paedophiles who have escaped the country are a small proportion of sexual offenders caught over the same period.
But police say detectives work long and hard to stop sex crimes against children, so they want to lock up paedophiles as quickly as they can.
3 News