For decades, Charles Sobhraj—nicknamed “ The Serpent ” for his ability to slip away from authorities—was one of the most feared criminals in Asia. Born in 1944 in Saigon, then part of French-administered Vietnam (today Ho Chi Minh City), he was first arrested in Paris in 1963 for theft. Over the ensuing years, he accumulated criminal charges across several countries, including France, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Thailand, and Malaysia, and escaped from prisons in several of them.

Best known by another nickname, the “Bikini Killer,” for his tendency to target women, Sobhraj drugged, robbed, and murdered Western tourists traveling along the so-called Hippie Trail in Asia during the 1970s. He was linked to more than 20 murders in India, Nepal, and Thailand

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