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