HONG KONG - A BUDDHIST monk in Hong Kong has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography following his arrest after an Interpol-led investigation, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Chow Yee Cheong, 41, was arrested in May after police raided his monastery and seized child pornography videos and photographs from a computer hard drive and two video compact discs, the South China Morning Post reported.
Interpol had passed on information to Hong Kong police that Chow had subscribed to a commercial child-abuse website based in Britain, the paper said.
Chow, a Chinese-Malaysian emigre to Hong Kong, was quoted as saying he had downloaded the illegal materials out of 'curiosity and sexual desire'.
The monk's defence counsel was quoted as saying Chow had lived a quiet life at the Buddhist monastery, where he was paid for providing counselling services. -- REUTERS
