Canadian sailor arrested in B.C. for child exploitation charges

A 62-year-old dual U.S. and Canadian citizen, wanted for allegedly producing child sexual abuse material aboard his sailboat, was arrested in British Columbia over the weekend following a yearslong international manhunt. Donald Steven Lang was taken into custody in Ucluelet, B.C., on August 23, 2026, at the request of United States authorities.

The arrest concluded a search that extended across the Pacific Ocean after Lang disappeared from his home port in Hawaii in January 2025. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Honolulu on August 20, 2026, on one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Prosecutors allege that between September 2024 and December 2024, Lang produced images of a minor engaged in explicit conduct aboard his 52-foot sailboat, the Ishi.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that Lang is an amateur sailor known to travel the world and frequently harbored in Hawaii. Following his indictment, the FBI warned he could be sailing between Hawaii and locations such as Fiji, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, or Indonesia. He had connections in Hawaii, Idaho, Washington state, California, Fiji, the Marquesas Islands, Mexico, and Canada.

Lang's apprehension was the result of...