Their investigations often lead special agents Ann Hurst and William Phillips to houses full of toys and video consoles; signs of fun and games and child's play. But then, in that same house, they will find duct tape, rope, blindfolds and lubricant.

It might turn out to be the home of a man that has meticulously diarized, photographed and preserved a lock of pubic hair from each of his 400-odd victims. Or of another that will claim that the sex that he had with a screaming, blindfolded and bound 8-year-old girl was the best he'd ever had.

It will invariably turn out to be another horror story, and just another day on the job for the two agents that will work to see that justice is served and that the story is given a happier ending.

It is a grim business that they are in, as agents with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit in Bangkok (one of 52 such offices around the world) and investigators of American child sex offenders in the region.

The two (Hurst is the office's attache, while Phillips has been here for 4 years and was twice referred to me as the world's top paedophile tracker) are part of the 6-agent ICE team here to help rid the region of child sex exploitation and the American participants in it.

But with just 6 officers assigned to 5 heavily sex-trafficked and toured countries in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia), Hurst and Phillips speak of long hours, busy days, and little end of the work in sight.

While they are based in Bangkok, the nature of their work is "boots on the ground", and they spend much of their time shuttling around the countries of Southeast Asia, investigating the crimes of American sex tourists and resident paedophiles. They also work on issues of human trafficking and exploitive labour.

Working closely with national police forces and NGOs, the ICE team has investigated and arrested 70-some American child sex offenders in the Southeast Asian region, over 20 of them in Thailand, (or in some cases, before they traveled to the region) since beginning their operations here in 2003.

Their presence was upped in the region and around the globe after the US passed the PROTECT act, which among other things has dramatically eased and simplified the process of prosecuting US citizens that commit child sex crimes abroad. Prior to this, citizens could only be punished if it could be proven that they had traveled with the intent to have sex with children - a condition that was difficult to satisfy without undercover correspondence.

But with a single offense punishable for up to 30 years and the 70-some arrests made in this region alone, it must be said the US' efforts are well under way and unusually aggressive. Not long ago, an 86-year old American child sex tourist was sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison.

Nor have enforcement officers shied from using these laws to prosecute citizens who may have already been punished for similar (but not the same, at least in name) crimes abroad. While double jeopardy is still out of bounds, there are cases like that of Erik Prowler (the pubic hair collector) who is awaiting trial in the US for his many offenses overseas, after already serving a year in Thai prison on charges of molesting two boys.

Phillips and Hurst say their investigations begin with a tip - usually from NGOs, but also occasionally from the public or Thai police - about an American committing child sex crimes in the region.

"We do outreaches. Our office is very proactive," says Phillips of the office's network of contacts and frequent information exchange sessions with NGOs.

"It can be as easy as standing on a street corner in Phnom Penh and watching it happen," says Phillips. In Thailand, however, the scene is more covert and information is more likely to come from NGO workers who observe notorious areas or who work closely with street children and other child victims. Occasionally, a medical exam run on one of these children will expose abuse and prompt an investigation.

"The NGOs are really our eyes and ears," says Hurst, explaining that such organisations are as vital in working with child victims as they are in intelligence gathering.

They explain that an offender, before abusing the child, will usually befriend and "groom" their victims with gifts, attention, and through activities like video games.

Evidence of the predator's techniques often turn up in investigations or arrests-that same 86-year old man, for example, was apprehended with over 100 lbs.of chocolate and candy in his luggage.

A more and more common component to this scheme is the Internet, where sexual predators can contact children in chatrooms, and eventually arrange to meet them in person.

The grooming process is intended to earn the child's trust, and once gained, to sexualise the relationship. Should the child be resistant, the period of friendship they shared with the paedophile often makes them especially vulnerable to succumbing to psychological intimidation, and threats a paedophile will make to tell the child's family, Hurst explains.

The aggravated nature of many of these offenders'sex acts further intesify the child's fear. Hurst and Phillips have investigated cases where, in addition to having been sexually abused, the child has been drugged, raped, bound, gagged, or beaten.

In a number of cases, the offender will also photograph or videotape the act to produce pornography that they will use for either personal or commercial sake, and sometimes, to threaten or blackmail the child.

While it's always hard to catch a paedophile in the often innocent-seeming early stages of predation, it is made even harder in Thailand, Phillips says. Because of the number of street children for whom a dollar or a chance to play video games goes a long way, the grooming process is shorter, and sometimes not even necessary here.

Other times, of course, kids don't need to be groomed because they are prostituted and in the hands of agents. Besides the typical procurer-agent, Phillips says there have been cases where children have been pimped out less officially by bargirls a paedophile has chatted up on a night out.

Paedophiles commonly position themselves in jobs and social settings that put themselves close to kids. Not surprisingly, Phillips says of their arrests, most have been school teachers or language tutors.

Over the past few years in Thailand there have been other, more novel approaches tried by paedophiles to line up their victims. One man in Pattaya ran a "video arcade" where he would let boys play for free, if naked, and a French man ran a go-kart business.

An even bolder group of offenders, not content to merely position themselves in schools or across from playgrounds, has also been uncovered. Practicing paedophiles in Thailand have actually founded and operated "charitable organisations " like orphanages, camps and foster homes which they use as a setting to have sex with children.

Much of the publicity, as well as both and witting and unwitting support, for at least a few of these children's centres came over the Internet - a tool which is helping paedophiles band together like never before.

A recent and disturbing report in the New York Times recently revealed that the online network of paedophiles is so extensive that there is a paedophile radio station and shopping site, where you can buy, among other things, a pendant signifying to others "in the know" that the wearer is a paedophile.

Hurst and Phillips say the region's paedophiles are an increasingly networked community that will exchange information on procurers and locations, and sometimes even swap children.

They have investigated all kinds, from multi-millionaires to a man that worked odd jobs 5 months of the year to pay for the other 7 that he spends living on a shoestring and having sex with children in Cambodia.

There are some patterns in past behaviours, however - they are often repeat offenders. Phillips says about 75% of their arrests had previously been charged with child sex offences in the States.

"A lot of these people, they seem to enjoy it," says Phillips. "I don't think they feel any remorse. They think we're the ones that are wrong because they've 'only' had sex with children."

Hurst speaks of one offender that failed to see the wrongness of his actions, and who, in attempted justification, compared the pubescent girl he had sex with to an animal that was ready to be mated.

This denial of the criminality of child sex crimes is widespread in groups like NAMBLA (North American Boy Love Association) and PACM (Paedophiles Against Child Molestation) - organisations that have gained visibility online, and in it their own sense of self-legitimacy.

Such groups offer a host of arguments to back their behavior, saying typically that they truly love children, that the sex is consensual, or that they are providing needy children the economic and emotional support they need.

The most outrageous denials of wrongdoing come from the number of offenders Hurst and Phillips have encountered that believe they, themselves, are the victims, and that they have been seduced by children.

Perhaps because of their self-perceived innocence, Hurst and Phillips said, child sex offenders can be quite talkative and enthusiastic in sharing their exploits.

Yet, while they are not bashful about their crimes, the agents also believe offenders are rarely completely honest about the extent of their activities. Phillips cites a study which indicates that for every one victim a child sex offender admits to, there are 10-30 more he or she does not.

The victims are understandably traumatised by the crimes they have suffered, and are additionally intimidated by the investigative process. Hurst and Phillips, who are both extensively trained for interviewing child sex crime victims, must also be mindful of cultural sensitivities.

"It depends on a child's education," Hurst says, remembering one girl that "didn't even know her name. All she had known were the inside walls of a brothel."

The interviews are disturbing reminders of how much a young victim has already experienced. Phillips says they are often "amazed at what (child victims) say. They know more than you can imagine."

Speaking with children who are often more sexually experienced than adults, and with adults who are remorseless in their sexual experience with children, is not an easy process for the agents either.

Phillips credits the NGO community for the success he has had in getting testimony from child witnesses, "Most kids are very cooperative. The challenges are once they agree (to testify)."

Often times these children, particularly those prostituted by their parents, will be pressured not to, and will instead be encouraged to return to the streets for the sake of family income. "We're basically the enemy, taking away their money," says Phillips.

But even when their are willing victims, there are the obvious technical difficulties in conducting an investigation 10,000 miles from where the crime will be prosecuted, says Hurst.

A conviction may come up to three years after the investigation was initiated, and even longer after the crime was committed. Moreover, penalties vary according to a number of factors including sentencing guidelines, previous convictions, and the attitudes in the district in which the offender is prosecuted.

While the wait is long for justice to be served, Hurst and Phillips say it is this outcome that makes their job well worth the physical and emotional exhaustion it brings on.

The ace agents had some final words to prevent further victimisation. Phillips stresses the importance of parent-child relationships, and of parents staying informed of their child's school life and internet habits. If something seems suspicious, report it, he says.

American child sex criminals in Thailand are not the only ones who need fear the ICE agents. Any information they receive regarding other nationalities is passed on to the Royal Thai Police and the appropriate foreign embassy.

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