(3/14/2005) A 56-year-old French national, Michel Rene Heller, was taken into custody by Bali police on Wednesday, March 9, 2005, following receipt of a formal letter from the French Embassy in Jakarta identifying the man as wanted by French Police on a pedophile warrant in their country.
Heller, who had reportedly lived for the past five years in Singaraja, North Bali, had been sought by the Interpol Office at National Police Headquarters in Jakarta and by Interpol officers in France.
The latest arrest is part of a continuing crackdown on a ring of foreign pedophiles reported to be operating in Bali. In May 2004, a former Australian diplomat, William Stuart Brown, took his life one day after being sentenced to 13 years in prison in a Karangasem Court for the sexual molestation of underaged boys in East Bali.
Heller, the French man arrested by police, purchased land in Singaraja near Lovina North Bali, but was arrested by police while staying in a bungalow in Ahmed, North Bali.
According to local press reports, the Bali Police will hold Heller for up to 20 days while they interview neighbors to determine if Heller had violated any Indonesia laws warranting his prosecution locally and await completion of a formal extradition request from the French Police.