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Indo-Canadian held in US for 'attempted enticement of minor'

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Press Trust of India Toronto
Last Updated : Feb 05 2015 | 9:45 PM IST
A 47-year-old Indo-Canadian soccer coach has landed in the US police net for allegedly trying to entice a 12-year-old girl who turned out to be an undercover agent, media said today.
Kuldip Singh Mahal of Surrey in Canadian province of British Columbia who is a volunteer Surrey B C soccer coach, allegedly sent sexually explicit messages and photos to an undercover officer, seeking sex, CBC News reported today.
Mahal is charged in the US with the 'attempted enticement of a minor', an offence that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Mahal went to a park in Burlington in the US state of Washington where he had arranged to meet the girl.
In documents filed in US District Court in Seattle, the agency alleges Mahal answered a posting on Craigslist from an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl from Washington.
He has made his first appearance in the US District Court in Seattle after being detained on Tuesday and is expected to remain in detention pending a hearing until next Monday.

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"In three weeks' time, the defendant went from responding to an online posting to travelling from Canada to Washington state to meet a minor for illicit sex," Brad Bench special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Seattle was quoted as saying by the report.
Court documents allege Mahal sent multiple sexually explicit messages and photos of himself to the undercover special agent over a three-week period, even after being told he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl.
The court documents say Mahal, a facilities manager for a Vancouver tech firm, is also a volunteer coach for an under-16 boy's soccer team in Surrey.
US investigators say the sting was initiated by Homeland Security Investigators in Blaine, Washington to target individuals who were using Craigslist to meet minors for sex.
The Surrey United Soccer club announced late yesterday that it was suspending Mahal as coach.

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First Published: Feb 05 2015 | 9:45 PM IST

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