A former UN official has been arrested on paedophilia charge from Kavre district.

Canadian national Peter John Dalglish, 60, who had served as the country representative of the UN Habitat Afghanistan, was arrested by a team of Nepal Police Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Saturday.

Two children, aged 12 and 14, were also rescued from his room in Mandan Deupur Municipality. The CIB suspects that there could be other victims. “Peter had been running Himalayan Community Foundation for the last two years. Under the guise of community worker, claiming to educate poor kids and provide necessary support, he had been sexually exploiting these children,” said CIB chief and Deputy Inspector General of Police Pushkar Karki. An organisation outside the country had tipped the CIB about Dalglish.

“We have developed a sound network to track down and arrest paedophiles entering Nepal. We had been following Dalglish’s activities for the last two weeks after we were tipped about his activities.”

Authorities have arrested seven persons on paedophilia charges since 2016.

In September 2016, American Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 48, was arrested from Thamel, Kathmandu. Five children were also rescued from the scene.

A Nepali national Buddha Patuwar, 21, was also arrested on charge of supplying children to Coombs.

 Similarly, on June 29, 2017, German national Albert Fred Klinicke was arrested with a 14-year old in Jyatha, Kathmandu.

More recently, Markus Kendler of Austria was arrested last week in Thahiti, Kathmandu. A child was also rescued from Kendler’s room.

Police have intensified their surveillance to catch paedophiles after Canadian national Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh was arrested from Lalitpur in 2014.

On March 1, 2015, the Lalitpur District Court convicted MacIntosh in a paedophilia case and sentenced him to seven years in jail.The CIB has urged parents to report such heinous activities because many times such behavior is treated as normal.