International operation targets child sexual abuse traders

22 May 2012

A global operation sparked by the Department of Internal Affairs and spanning 20 countries has targeted 55 key suspects in the worldwide distribution of child sexual abuse pictures. Some were involved in the actual sexual abuse of the children depicted.

At least 12 abused children have been identified and removed from harm including one in New Zealand.

In October 2010 Internal Affairs’ Censorship Compliance Unit found significant amounts of child sexual abuse and exploitation pictures being exchanged via social network sites, including Facebook, Socialgo, and grou.ps and alerted international law enforcement agencies.

General Manager of Regulatory Compliance Operations, Maarten Quivooy, said the Department provided evidence of the illegal activities to 20 countries and worked with the USA’s Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Interpol.

“This enabled those countries’ law enforcement agencies to taken action against 55 people who are regarded as the top offenders in this shocking trade,” he said. “Our investigators and ICE identified a large number of groups on Facebook engaging in the display or distribution of objectionable child sexual material.”

The investigation was conducted with the support and assistance of Facebook officials. Some of the individuals targeted had already been referred to law enforcement as part of Facebook’s proactive efforts to ensure their platform is not used to sexually exploit children or further the sexual exploitation of children through the dissemination of child sexual abuse images.

The Head of INTERPOL’s Crimes Against Children unit, Mick Moran, praised New Zealand’s initiative in launching the original investigation. Code-named Laminar, the operation once again demonstrated the need for international cooperation.

“It is said that the Internet has no boundaries, but that does not mean that laws do not apply, that people committing offences online will not be identified. There is no safe environment or anonymous area for individuals who think that they can trade and publish child abuse images online, as proved once again by this operation which should serve as a warning to others – you will be caught,” Mr Moran said.

“While disrupting these networks is a significant part of the investigation, what is more important is that innocent children and in some cases babies have been rescued from physical abuse,” Mr Moran added.

Most of the 55 detected are in prison or facing prosecution. None from this operation are from New Zealand but five New Zealanders, playing a lesser role in the closed groups, were identified during the covert investigation that led to Operation Laminar. They are all facing court action.

The 20 countries with identified targets are: Australia, Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, England, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, United States and Venezuela.

ICE Director John Morton said Operation Laminar demonstrated that when governments team up to attack the global distribution of images of child sexual abuse the success is real.

“ICE will continue to work tirelessly with our international law enforcement partners to protect children wherever they live and to bring justice to criminals wherever they operate,” he added.

Maarten Quivooy said protecting children was a global responsibility to which the Department was committed.

“Distributing child sexual abuse images is an international crime requiring an international response,” he said. “Child sex abuse imagery is not a victimless crime as it involves real children forced into degrading acts. Trading in, or viewing these images is active offending because it involves real children often being abused both in real time and over time.

“Images of children being sexually abused, when released onto the Internet, live on forever. They haunt the children depicted, who live daily with the knowledge that countless strangers use an image of their worst experiences for their own gratification.

“No crime impacts on us as society and as parents more deeply than the abuse of innocent children by the people they should be able to trust above all others. Terms such as kiddiporn and child pornography make the physical sexual abuse of a child appear consenting. No child is capable of consenting to sexual activity—therefore all sexual depiction of children is abuse.”