Dhaka:
Police in Bangladesh's northeastern city of Sylhet have arrested a British national for the alleged repeated sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy, police said today.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Peter Allison, an amateur filmmaker, at a hotel in Sylhet, and have filed charges of child sexual abuse against him, city police chief Amulya Bhusan Barua told AFP.
"We contacted British High Commission officials here. They informed us there is a complaint of alleged sex abuse against him in London," he said, adding that Allison, 56, had told police he was innocent of the charges.
Sub-inspector Mohammad Kefaetullah, who is investigating the case, said Allison was arrested following a tip-off from Interpol, the global inter-government police organisation.
"He recruited the 11-year-old boy from a remote district (of Bangladesh) and took him to Nepal and Sri Lanka. The boy gave a statement to the court," he said.
"He alleged that Allison would sexually abuse him every day. He took the boy to different cities in the region where he would abuse him. Allison has been visiting Bangladesh since 1981," the police officer said.
If convicted in Bangladesh, the British citizen could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail, police said, adding the parents of the alleged victim had been silenced with regular gifts from Allison.