Australia’s Biggest Anti-Pedophile Investigation & Arrests
If the criminals are multiplying fast courtesy the internet, the same technology is also helping the police to nab them. Australian law enforcement agencies have so far arrested 70 persons, in the 19 to 81 age group, for child pornography and abuse offences across the country. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a further 20 people have been issued with summons to appear in court where they will be charged with possessing child exploitation material. More arrests are expected in coming weeks and months.
Those arrested include community leaders, a police officer, a teacher and a youth worker following the nation’s biggest anti-pedophile investigation. ” ‘The possession of the images, the downloading of the images was the tip of the iceberg,’ said Andrew Colvin, the Australian Federal Police’s national manager of high-tech crime operations. ‘It’s the networks. It’s the children they might have access to. It’s the potential for grooming and procuring that these people are involved in as well’.
“During Operation Centurion, police became aware that offenders were using web-enabled devices such as Playstation 3, X-Box and new-generation mobile phones to access the images. ‘They don’t have to worry about a family member checking the history on the family computer, or ask why they are spending so much time on it,’ said one investigator. ‘Most people don’t know games consoles can be linked to the web’.
“Perhaps most disconcerting is the scale of the internet child exploitation. As many as 3.5 million child abuse images are on the internet and cannot readily be removed. Identifying and locating children in the photos can be difficult.
“The social networking revolution that has swept the internet has been adopted by purveyors of child exploitation. Child porn chat rooms pop up, then close almost as quickly. Here, pedophiles trade images, alert each other to new ones and share tips on how to groom potential victims and avoid detection by police, work colleagues and family members.”
