Fergie's Tech Blog

Australia: 70 Arrested in Nation's Largest Child Porn Dragnet

Tom Allard writes on TheAge.com.au:

Dozens of men - including community leaders, a police officer, a teacher and a youth worker - have been arrested over child pornography and abuse offences after the nation's biggest anti- pedophile investigation.

The six-month joint operation by the Australian Federal Police and state police forces uncovered several cases of child molestation and highlighted the astonishing way in which pedophiles form secret communities in cyberspace and use the global reach of the internet to trade child-exploitation images.

To date, 70 arrests have been made across Australia. A further 20 people have been issued with summonses to appear in court, where they will be charged with possessing child-exploitation material. More arrests are expected.

Dubbed Operation Centurion, the investigation was triggered after a hacker infiltrated a respectable European website and inserted 99 degrading and explicit images of young girls from Eastern Europe, the US and Paraguay.

posted by Fergie @ 6/04/2008 01:42:00 PM