British man arrested in Sri Lanka for children sexual abuse

A British man was detained Wednesday for allegedly sexually abusing several Sri Lankan children, officials said.

The 51-year-old surrendered to police in the capital Colombo and remains in police custody, said Dimuthu Galapatti, spokesman for the National Child Protection Authority or NCPA, which is spearheading the investigation, the AP informs.

He said the man is a convicted pedophile in Britain.

"We had launched a massive hunt for this man in the last few weeks," Galapatti was quoted as saying by the AP.

Preliminary investigations conducted by the authority's special police unit allege that the man had abused several children in the coastal town of Negombo and in Mannar, a northern town, parts of which are under Tamil Tiger rebel control.