KATHMANDU, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Police have arrested Australian national Derryman Thomas Alfred on charge of involvement in pedophilia on Tuesday, police authorities said here.

Dipak Regmi, a spokesperson of Nepal's Central Investigation told Xinhua that Alfred was arrested from his rented apartment based in Pokhara city, some 180 kilometers west of Kathmandu.

"The Australian national is currently under the investigation for sexually abusing two boys aged 14 and 15," Regmi said.

Police authorities stated that Alfred, 63, is a paraglider at a private paragliding company in the city, a popular tourist destination in the Himalayan nation.

Alfred has been staying in the city for almost three years.

This is not the first case of pedophilia to hit the Himalayan country as many foreigners have been arrested in recent years for sexually abusing and molesting under-aged children.

Earlier in July this year, a district court in Nepal had slapped 16-year jail sentence on a Canadian humanitarian worker for sexually abusing two boys in Kavre district.

Though some cases have been reported, pedophilia is still an underestimated phenomenon in this South Asian nation, where 25.2 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line.

The Nepali Police authorities maintain that there has been an escalation of cases reported in the past few years. Enditem

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