Geneva, Oct 15. (dpa/GNA) – Police arrested 95 suspects in an international operation against the spread of child sexual abuse material online, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) said in a statement on Thursday.
Four police operations carried out between March and September involved 17 countries from Latin America and Europe, including Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Spain and Italy. Investigators executed 127 search warrants.
“Behind every file is a child who was abused, and who is revictimized every time that image recirculates,” said Stephen Fry, Interpol’s executive director for investigative support. “Wherever offenders move, we have to move faster.”
According to Interpol, police in Colombia rescued a 5-year-old child and arrested a parent. The parent is alleged to have produced sexual abuse material of the child and sold it online.
With the help of an Interpol database, investigators were able to link several files to the same child. Some dated from when the child was only 1 year old.
In Ecuador, investigators examining a suspect from a chat group found more than 4,000 files of child sexual abuse material, totalling around 15 gigabytes.
In Panama, the administrator of a chat group through which such material was distributed was arrested. According to Interpol, the group had more than 700 users.
In Argentina, police arrested a suspect who is alleged to have been in contact with more than 260 girls from various countries.
He is accused of sexually extorting minors. He is alleged to have increasingly demanded more explicit videos and images from the victims, and to have threatened them if they refused.
According to Interpol, perpetrators increasingly use digital platforms to sexually exploit children, coordinate abuse and earn money from illegal content.
GNA