All language subtitles for Asias.Underworld.S01E02.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

The United Nations estimates
that 2 million children globally...

...are forced into prostitution
and pornography each year.

The sexual exploitation of children
is fueled by depraved sex predators,

criminals who prey
on the most vulnerable of victims,

putting a price tag on their innocence.

In places where money is scarce,
these deviants gather,

forging a network of criminals who profit
from the demand and supply of children.

They are among Asia’s
most repulsive criminals.

September 5th, 2010,

police raid a guesthouse
on the outskirts of Phnom Penh...

...to find three underage
Cambodian girls...

...with a 50-year-old British national,
a former UK government adviser.

Present at the scene was head
of the Anti Human Trafficking Police...

...and agents from APLE,

a local organization that investigates
and brings pedophiles to justice.

When we went into the guesthouse,
he was with three very young girls,

aged 9, 10, and 11,
sitting on his bed, ready for sex.

Having escaped the clutches
of Cambodian laws before,

Leach is fearless
of authorities during the arrest.

He did not look frightened,
he did not look scared at all because...

...what I can say, he was experienced.

And because he believed that he would
come into this situation one day.

Leach had been under APLE
investigation before, in 2005,

when he allegedly
sexually abused young girls...

...while posing
as a doctor at an orphanage.

He was acquitted by the courts
due to lack of evidence.

This time around,
investigators are determined...

...to gather enough evidence
to convict him of his crimes.

Their immediate source
of evidence is the girls.

In many cases the victim
was actually not cooperative,

because they wanted to secure a financial
relationship with their own abuser.

Leach paid 1500 US dollars
for a sex contract...

...with three underage girls
for a period of one week.

Before catching him red handed,

APLE agents conduct
a thorough surveillance on Leach,

following Intel on a child
prostitution ring two days prior.

Agents witness Leach being driven
around town by a local driver.

The suspect purchased
candies and lingerie...

...before going to Kien Svay district,
a place known for its sex establishments.

Leach eventually leads the undercover
agents to this guesthouse...

...just outside Phnom Penh
where the raid and arrest take place.

He made a deal with two pimps...

...and the mother of three girls,
aged under 15, okay?

So the mother agreed
to sell her own three girls...

...to the pimp, who then transferred
the three girls to this man...

...for one big sexual abuse contract.

Leach’s accomplices were also arrested,

including his driver, the owner
of the guesthouse, and the girls’ mother.

Leach was charged with three counts
of purchasing sex with underage girls.

According to prosecutors,

Leach tried several times
to delay his trial,

often faking illness on his court dates.

But, on the 8th of September 2011,

Michael Julian Leach was finally
convicted to 12 years' imprisonment...

...and forced to pay
compensation money to his victims.

The sexual exploitation of children
occurs around the world,

a crime that crosses all borders
and afflicts all societies.

Cambodia, among the world’s
poorest countries,

is a breeding ground
for the child sex trade.

The country’s
Minister of Women’s Affairs...

...estimated that around
30,000 Cambodian children...

...were forced into prostitution in 2005.

It is one of the global hotspots
selling commercial sex with the young...

...and attracting pedophiles
from all over the world.

Some travelers
from the Western countries,

actually coming here with purposes
of engaging sexually with children.

So...

...they actually operate in a way...

...that they believe they can find
children on the streets.

They believe that they can
buy a child for sex.

According to Agent Seila,
there are two ways a pedophile will hunt.

Some make direct contact
with children or families on the streets,

while others use the help
of a local establishment or middlemen.

These underground dealers
hide under layers of secrecy...

...that make them extremely
difficult to bring to justice.

The relentless sex trade
has made Cambodia...

...an increasingly dangerous
place for the young.

As predators of children
sink further into depravity,

even a shelter for abandoned street kids
can be turned into a child’s nightmare.

So now we have cases of people...

...who probably run an NGO or work
in an NGO to get access to children.

April 21st, 2010,

police and child protection agents
search the home of 66-year-old...

...Cornelius Chamuleau
in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

The Dutchman is the director
of a local orphanage in the coastal town.

I object. There’s nothing with children.

Authorities raid his apartment...

...after three boys from the home
complained of sexual abuse.

When he was out with these
four to seven kids outside,

he was playing in a very
inappropriate way by touching,

by hugging, by kissing,

by actually playing
around their genital parts.

The Dutchman was convicted
in February 2011...

...for indecent acts
against two underage boys.

Under Cambodian law,

indecency against minors
that excludes sexual intercourse...

...carries a maximum
sentence of three years.

Chamuleau was sentenced to 18 months
in prison and served only half of it.

Agent Seila and his team
have requested for prosecutors...

...to oppose the court’s light sentence.

Their disappointment
stems from the possibility...

...that Chamuleau may strike again
after his early release.

APLE is just one of many
child protection agencies...

...putting pressure
on the prosecution of pedophiles.

Sex predators who are aware
of such scrutiny...

...have developed a new mode
of operation to escape detection.

They believe that they have
to change their ways.

So now pedophiles work fund raising...

...for NGOs for him
to get access to children.

Such an operation means
that pedophiles get to establish...

...long-term relationships
with their victims,

manipulating children to unknowingly
submit to sexual abuse.

Running an orphanage
to get access to children...

...shows how increasingly brazen
foreign pedophiles have become.

And when the profile of the typical
Western pedophile is rich,

advanced in his years, and retired,

they often think they are above the law.

In one of the pedophile cases
specifically of the Dutch national,

we were actually offered
100,000 US dollars...

...to withdraw from the legal case.

And there, he also tried to locate
our office in order to make a deal.

We did not accept the deal.

But in a poverty-stricken
country like Cambodia,

cash is often the ultimate temptation...

...even if it means selling your own kids.

These shadowy businessmen
also lurk in brothels,

using children to lure customers.

Authorities say families
in rural areas of Cambodia...

...are often tricked
into giving away their children...

...for what they think
are decent paying jobs,

only to have the their young ones
end up working in brothels.

24-year-old Chaivoeurn was born
into a poor family plagued by debt.

At only 13 years old,
she was sold off by her aunt.

Instead of washing dishes
and earning an honest income,

Chaivoeurn was tortured
into sexual slavery.

She was forced
to serve clients every day...

...and was brutally punished
if she refused.

With no way out,
her nightmare only got worse.

Sadly, her story is not unique.

Thousands of children are victimized
by the same deceit every year.

20-year-old Srey Pich was forced
into prostitution at a young age,

after running away from home
to escape her sexually abusive father.

While living on the streets,
she met a lady who offered help.

But instead of being sent
to a safer place,

Srey was sold to a brothel.

The manager beat me, electrocuted me.

Local men believe that sleeping
with underaged virgins...

...will bring them increased vitality
and untold health benefits.

Profiting from this myth
are underground syndicates...

...that sell children to rich,
primarily Asian men.

The price tag for a virgin
can go up to 1000 US dollars.

When caught, the disgrace faced
by the criminal can be overwhelming.

And fearing a lifelong campaign
of hatred against them...

...many choose an easier way out.

Convicted pedophiles are often
punished with public humiliation.

These criminals not only incur the wrath
of their victims and the general public...

...but also fellow prison inmates.

Even the hardest criminals
are known to be intolerant...

...of crimes against children.

Behind bars,

pedophiles are thrown into the
lowest rungs of the prison hierarchy,

facing intense harassment
from other inmates,

and in some cases,
becoming the target for violent murders.

It is no wonder that when
caught red handed by police,

many pedophiles
are desperate for any way out.

In early August 2006,

children’s screams echo from a house
in a Phnom Penh neighbourhood,

raising suspicions.

The home belongs to 60-year-old
German schoolteacher...

...Karl-Heinz Henning Opitz.

Word of neighbors’
complaints soon reach APLE,

an independent organization
of law enforcement agents...

...combating child sex crimes.

Our agent went to the scene and tried
to identify the girl in the home.

So we went upstairs and we tried
to observe from a distance of his home,

and we could see
some kind of camera flash,

we could see voices of young children
laughing, screaming, something like that.

Undercover surveillance
reveals underage girls...

...being escorted to his house
by Vietnamese adults.

The children suspiciously
spend three to four hours...

...inside the house during each visit.

Agents follow the escorts
to their home addresses.

After questioning neighbours,

they discover that the suspects
are part of a child trafficking ring.

It was time for the police to step in.

His 20 years of experience
in the police force...

...was not enough to prepare
Lieutenant Colonel Keo Thea...

...for what he and his team
uncovered during the raid.

While authorities search the premises,

house-owner German pedophile
Opitz looks on nervously.

Sadomasochistic sex items are found
along with children’s soft toys.

Police also discover 18 videotapes
and eight computer hard drives,

filled with photos and videos
of Opitz and an accomplice...

...raping and torturing
young local children.

In some cases, the children
appear bound and drugged.

Opitz knows the evidence
is unequivocal, more than enough...

...to convict him of explicit and illegal
sexual conduct with children.

He also knows the likely consequences.

From here on, Opitz will have
to face the immense shame...

...and public hatred for his misdeeds.

In this rare video
captured of his arrest,

authorities gather his possessions
while Opitz contemplates his situation.

With no way out, he decides to make
a run for it, jumping off the balcony.

Opitz is not the only arrested pedophile
who has tried to take his own life.

In October 2006,

50-year-old American police officer
Donald René Ramiréz...

...committed suicide
while in police custody in Cambodia.

Ramiréz had been arrested
and thrown in a local jail cell...

...for having sex
with a 14-year-old girl.

Once more, the repercussions
of facing the outside world...

...were too much for him to handle.

But whatever the outcome
of convicted pedophiles,

their victims are psychologically
scarred for life.

Child sex victim Srey,

who spent her childhood
forced into prostitution,

can still recall the trauma.

Often victims of those kinds
of sexual abuses...

...experience nightmares and flashbacks
and those common effects of trauma...

...that are often associated
with post-traumatic stress disorder.

That can often lead
to lots of issues around...

...feeling a sense of safety
in the community, as they grow older,

a lack of trust for adults, particularly
for child sex trafficking survivors,

who were perhaps sold
into that situation by their families.

After escaping her ordeal,
Srey was sent to a shelter...

...where she lives with other victims
who share similar histories.

The Somaly Mam Foundation...

...helps these girls to reintegrate
back into society...

...after their traumatic past.

A crucial part of the healing process
for victims of sexual abuse...

...is to know that the perpetrators
have been arrested and convicted.

Opitz was sentenced
to 28 years in a Cambodian prison...

...on charges of human trafficking
and child pornography.

The conviction means another
successful mission for APLE.

Over the course of eight years,

they have helped bring to justice
over 150 sex offenders in Cambodia.

After local and international pressure,

the law of suppression of human
trafficking and sexual exploitation...

...came to fruition in 2008.

This new law gives police more power
to investigate and arrest sex offenders...

...and has put in place
more juvenile protection police units.

Backed by new legislation,

authorities have also
intensified their clampdown...

...on child sex offenders in the country.

Hundreds have been arrested,

but only time will tell
if such improved measures are enough...

...to deter future child sex bandits.