Bangkok - Thai police on Tuesday arrested three European tourists, all in their 60s, on charges of sexually abusing minors at a beach resort.

The suspects were rounded up in Pattaya, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, after Thai police were tipped off by Interpol about a Swedish child sex tour to the beach resort, notorious for its sleazy entertainment scene.

The men arrested were Swedish nationals Karl Erik Berglund, 60, and Lars Anders Ellerman, 65, and British national George Stanley Gibbs, 67.

"These men have abused many children in the Pattaya area," said Police Major General Chaiwat Gaetworachai, head of Thailand's Child Protection Division.

He acknowledged that several of the men on the sex tour had evaded arrest. (dpa)