Thai police said Tuesday that they have arrested an Australian man for allegedly promoting sex cruises with prostitutes on a Facebook page.
In this Monday, June 18, 2018, photo, Australian Stephen Allan Carpenter, left, is detained by police in Pattaya, Thailand. Carpenter was arrested on vice charges in a sting operation after allegedly offering a sex cruise with prostitutes via a Facebook page. (AP Photo)
Police said Stephen Allan Carpenter, 49, was arrested Monday night in the central province of Saraburi. He was brought to the seaside resort town of Pattaya, where he operated his business and where an arrest warrant had been issued.
Carpenter has been charged with procuring women for prostitution, posting pornographic material online, overstaying his visa, and working illegally as a tour guide.
In this Monday, June 18, 2018, photo, Australian Stephen Allan Carpenter, front center, is detained by police in Pattaya, Thailand. Carpenter was arrested on vice charges in a sting operation after allegedly offering a sex cruise with prostitutes via a Facebook page. (AP Photo)
Carpenter's business, AUSTHAI Tours, advertised online a six-hour cruise with women at a cost of between 38,000 baht ($1,187) and 50,000 baht ($1,562), Police Lt. Col. Dullayapat Techapornyasin of the Transnational Crime Coordination Center said.
In this Monday, June 18, 2018, photo, Australian Stephen Allan Carpenter, left, is detained by police in Pattaya, Thailand. Carpenter was arrested on vice charges in a sting operation after allegedly offering a sex cruise with prostitutes via a Facebook page. (AP Photo)
Police said an officer contacted Carpenter and posed as a customer. He then wired half the money as a deposit into a bank account, as instructed by the suspect. After the money went through, the police obtained an arrest warrant.
Pattaya is known for its sex industry, catering largely to foreigners.
SYDNEY (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics during a Sydney church service has been charged by police with terrorism offenses.
Authorities said the stabbing was declared a terrorist act because of the teenager’s suspected religious motivation and that the boy traveled up to 90 minutes from his home to the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney's western suburbs.
The teen spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad being insulted after he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel during Monday night’s Assyrian Orthodox service. He was later overpowered by parishioners, sustaining severe hand injuries.
“Yesterday investigators attended a medical facility to interview the alleged offender where he was charged with committing a terrorist act," said Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw at a press conference Friday in Sydney. The offense carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment for life.
The matter was heard at a Sydney children’s court on Friday. The juvenile, who is not being named, did not appear via video link from his hospital bed and did not apply for bail at the brief hearing.
The teen has a history of knife-related offenses and had seen three psychologists and a school counselor, and had an appointment to see a psychiatrist, his lawyer said during Friday’s court hearing.
The boy’s family had previously said the 16-year-old might have “anger management and behavioral issues” and a “short fuse,” but had shown no signs of being radicalized.
The 16-year-old’s lawyer, Greg Scragg, said the boy had a “long history of behavior” consistent with a mental illness or intellectual disability.
The magistrate made a recommendation for the boy to have a mental health assessment while in custody. He will enter remand custody at a children’s detention center once released from the hospital, until his next court hearing on June 14.
A crowd of up to 600 people converged on the church after the attack, some demanding that police hand over the boy. Hours of rioting led to 51 police officers being injured. Sydney mosques also received firebomb threats.
The bishop released an audio statement Thursday saying that he was “doing fine, recovering very quickly” and that he forgave his attacker. He also used his statement to call for calm after the attack, which was Australia’s second high-profile knife attack in a week, after a man stabbed six people to death at a busy Sydney shopping center Saturday before he was fatally shot.
Regarding the church attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “Clearly this was a terrorism event,” and it had been disappointing to see the riots that followed.
“The response as well, I must say, as a Sydneysider, was very disappointing with police being attacked, they should be treated with respect at all times,” Albanese told radio station 3AW on Friday. “Our police do extraordinary work in order to keep us safe and they shouldn’t have been subject to the attacks that happened on that evening. And there have been charges done because of that as well.”
Police say they are continuing to hunt for as many as 50 people involved in the riot and expect to make more arrests in the coming days.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said extra police had been deployed to that part of western Sydney as part of a high-visibility operation “for as long as needed to reassure the community we are there to keep them safe."
Smith reported from Newcastle, Australia.
Police forensic officers inspect a car outside the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A car with its windscreen smashed, is parked outside the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A damaged car sits parked outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Police patrol outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Security officers stand guard outside Orthodox Assyrian church in Sydney, Australia, Monday, April 15, 2024. Police in Australia say a man has been arrested after a bishop and churchgoers were stabbed in the church. There are no life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Flores sit on a fence outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. A man has been arrested after reportedly stabbing a Christian bishop and multiple churchgoers during a televised service in Sydney Monday, April 15, 2024, police said. There were no reports of life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
