Norway police arrest serial paedophile suspect

OSLO: Police arrested one of Norway's most wanted men on Friday, suspected of assaulting hundreds of young boys over a period of 30 years, law enforcement officials said.   

The man, 55, who is divorced and has two grown-up children, is charged with 11 cases, but linked to 150, police said. He is suspected of assaults on as many as 300-400 boys of ages six to 12 from the mid-1970s to 2007.   

The suspect, who has his own business, has been dubbed the 'pocket man' in the Norwegian media because he is said to have cut a hole in his pockets and asked the children to help him get an item out and then grabbed them.   

"We do not exclude that the charge can be extended," police attorney Jorid Kile Berg of the Follo police district told a news conference.   

The police were alerted to the suspect by a former policeman who linked details in the media to a case he had been working on in 1999, where the defendant was a suspect.   

"The accused has been in the police spotlight since the end of November 2007," the police said.   

The tip led to a secret search of the man's home in January, when police took DNA evidence that eventually led to his arrest. The suspect's brother is also a former police officer, but the police said this had no significance to the case.   

The first registered assault the man is suspected of took place in 1976-77, and the last on July 14, 2007. The assaults occurred in several different parts in Norway.   

It was unclear if the accused had admitted to any crimes, and so far no attorney has been appointed for him.