Vineeta Pandey / DNA                                   Thursday, January 7, 2010 2:09 IST

New Delhi: The government will crack down on the tourism industry if they don’t stop visitors from bringing children into their hotel rooms for sex or watching child pornography on the Internet.

The Centre has sent hotel owners and tour operators a set of guidelines and a code of conduct to prevent the sexual exploitation of children by guests. This means the tourism ministry not only wants all hotels and cyber cafes to keep an eye on what people watch on the Internet but also deny them access to child pornography content on websites and television.

The code forbids tourists from seeking out children for sex via chat rooms, discussions groups etc. Staff in hotels and cyber cafes at all tourist spots have been asked to alert local police if they find child pornography material on guests.

Hotels have also been asked not to ‘help’ tourists get access to children for sex or employ minors in their industry, Union tourism secretary Sujit Banerjee said. If hotels and tour operators do not abide by the rules, they will lose their license and face penal action.

Moreover, the government has told tour operators to brief their customers in advance about the new norms to prevent sexual exploitation of children. As part of this, airlines have been asked to run an awareness campaign through its in-flight magazines, ticket jackets, Internet links and video on long-haul flights.

India is not the only country formulating such rules. Similar codes were to be enforced by all countries who expressed their commitment to stop the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the 2008 World Congress (in Rio de Janeiro) .

Experts say that child sex tourism is rising sharply in India, not just in tourist havens but also in religious hubs in Tamil Nadu and Orissa. India has been identified as a source, transit point and destination for child trafficking in the international circuit. A large number of children are also trafficked within the country.

Wrenshall, a Canadian citizen living in Thailand, was arrested at London’s Heathrow International Airport early this morning by London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MET) with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A provisional arrest warrant had been issued for Wrenshall through coordination with British officials, MET, ICE and the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. Wrenshall is being detained pending extradition from the United Kingdom.

“ICE investigates sex tourism aggressively with the help of our international offices and law enforcement partners,” said Matthew J. Etre, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Newark, NJ. “This case demonstrates our international resolve to ensure that those who prey on our children do not go unpunished.”

A grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned an indictment against Wrenshall on Aug. 25, 2008. Wrenshall is charged with one count of conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, two counts of aiding and abetting sex tourism, one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, seven counts of production of child pornography, and seven counts of distribution of child pornography. The charges stem from Wrenshall’s alleged involvement with U.S. citizens who traveled to Thailand to sexually abuse children and produce visual depictions of that abuse. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of child pornography production, and up to 15 years in prison for distribution of child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count.

According to the unsealed indictment and court documents, Wrenshall had frequent access to Thai boys, some as young as 6 years old, at his Thailand home. As charged in the indictment, from at least as early as May 2000, Wrenshall helped arrange trips to his home during which U.S. citizens and others paid Wrenshall to engage in sexual acts with the boys, sometimes for weeks at a time. Wrenshall’s customers were allowed to videotape and photograph their abuse. An indictment is merely a charge and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by ICE and INTERPOL.