Five Victorian global child porn arrests
Five Victorians are among hundreds arrested as part of a global investigation into a Canada-based child pornography ring.
A 50-year-old St Kilda man has been charged with possessing, accessing and using a carriage service for child exploitation material, Victoria Police said on Friday.
He is among 65 Australians arrested and charged after the online child porn and exchange ring was uncovered by Canadian police.
Six Australian sexually abused children are among the 386 around the world who have been removed from harm, police say.
More than 340 suspects across the globe - including doctors, teachers, priests and foster carers - were arrested during the swoop that was led by Toronto police, inspector Joanna Beavan -Desjardins, head of the Toronto police's Sex Crimes Unit, told the media overnight.
The Australian Federal Police started Operation Thunderer in 2012, the local arm of an international probe, codenamed Project Spade, after the Toronto Police Service identified Australians who were suspected of buying and downloading images and video of child abuse from a Canadian website.
Australian Federal Police Commander Glen McEwan said 65 Australians had been arrested and charged with 399 offences following the three-year investigation, which he said was one of the largest global probes of its kind.
In Victoria, four men from various suburbs including, Belmont, Sunshine North, and Keysborough were arrested as part of the operation.
In NSW, they include a 42-year-old school teacher arrested at Cowra on July 24 and another 42-year-old Emu Plains teacher arrested on August 7.
A 72-year-old retired Catholic priest was arrested at Lake Haven on the Central Coast on August 20 and a 57-year-old priest was arrested at The Rocks on July 29.
They have all been charged with possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child pornography and remain before the courts.
An AFP spokeswoman said that as well as the four men arrested by NSW police, federal police had made five NSW arrests, taking the total number of people arrested in the state to nine.In Queensland, teachers, a nurse and a carer are among 33 arrests. South Australian police have arrested eight men, while four have been arrested by Australian Federal Police in the state.WA is reporting four arrests. It is understood the Australian Federal Police have removed five children from harm in WA as part of the investigation and another was rescued in ACT. The children are among 386 around the world who have been removed from harm.Commander McEwan said more charges were expected to be laid following forensic analysis. He said all of those arrested were male and customers of a Toronto-based website involved in the global selling and distribution of child exploitation material."Those who wish to prey on our children had been put on notice," he said. "Their unlawful online activity can and will be detected," he said. "Predators will be pursued no matter where they are."Canadian investigationInspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said that undercover officers made initial contact with the ring in October 2010 through a man sharing "very graphic images of young children being sexually abused."They were able to trace his Internet connection to a Toronto address.Their investigation led to a company believed to be producing and distributing child exploitation videos and images over the Internet."The company operated a website -? www.azovfilms.com -? where customers from around the world placed orders to have movies sent to them through the mail or Internet," said Beaven-Desjardins.The 42-year-old suspect's home and business were raided seven months later and he was charged with operating a website that sold and distributed child pornography.Police said the man "paid various people to film children for the purpose of creating movies for sale on his website."The Canadian distributor's website meanwhile allegedly earned him $4 million over several years.Authorities said they seized over 45 terabytes of data, including hundreds of thousands of images and videos detailing "horrific" sexual acts against children as young five.Police subsequently tracked down the website's customers around the world.The United States Postal Inspection Service took part in the probe, as did authorities in Sweden, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, and other countries.US Postal Inspection Service acting Deputy Chief Inspector Gerald O'Farrell said those convicted in the case included an attorney and youth baseball coach in Washington state who produced more than 500 videos of children he sexually molested.Also under arrest was a Georgia school employee who received child pornography and admitted to placing a hidden video camera in students' restrooms in an effort to film their genitals.A preschool teacher who produced child pornography while he was employed in Japan and a Texas police sergeant who produced video of a child involved in sexually explicit conduct, were also among those arrested.
