POLICE from 26 European countries – including Cyprus- have arrested 112 and identified 269 suspects in a carried out a major crackdown against online child sex abuse file-sharing networks.
The Danish-led Operation Icarus targeted those sharing the most extreme forms of video material, which, according to a EUROPOL statement, included the abuse of babies and toddlers.
A lot of the material seized during the house searches is awaiting forensic examination in order to support follow-up investigations and possible prosecution of offenders. However, this operation has already uncovered previously unknown networks of child sex offenders operating on different internet channels.
Europol Director Rob Wainwright said: “This is the latest major success in over 10 years of Europol supporting law enforcement agencies in Europe in their fight against child sex abuse online.”
Wainwright said that, although successful, the operation has shown how the internet is helping offenders to develop better techniques for sharing images on a global basis and for protecting their identity.
“The problems involved are becoming harder to police and call for sustained efforts by policy-makers and law enforcement agencies to ensure that society’s response remains strong and agile in this area,” he said.
“Europol is committed to playing a leading part in this work through its unique capabilities to develop intelligence and digital forensic skills across Europe and through the coordination of major international operations.”
Investigations are ongoing and more arrests are expected. Special focus will be on identifying the producers of the material, the suspects and their victims.
Among those arrested for downloading illegal material was one who is suspected of grooming a young child, and was arrested before being able meet the child face to face.
Operation Icarus is the first operation concluded under the auspices of the new action plan of the COSPOL Internet Related Child Abuse Material Project (CIRCAMP) an initiative by EU police chiefs led by Belgium and funded by the European Commission, but which Cyprus is yet to join.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, welcomed the joint action. “These children are victims of multiple crimes,” she said. “First, when the actual abuse takes place. Then, when it is filmed, and, thereafter, every time the images are posted, circulated or viewed.”
Operation Icarus was initiated during a CIRCAMP meeting at the start of 2011, when it was agreed that Danish Police (DK NITEC) should lead the investigations because of its expertise in peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
Danish National Commissioner of Police, Jens Henrik Hoejbjerg said: “Law enforcement agencies have to work together to combat the growing threat of cybercrimes against children, and we have to use the most advanced technology available. The complexity is huge and challenging – for example one of the Danish suspects had 29 terabytes of data that we seized. This is an incredible amount of data for our investigators to handle. To put it into perspective, that could hold about 9,000 hours of high-quality video.”
For more information about protecting your child online in Cyprus, visit http://www.cyberethics.info/cyethics2/page.php?pageID=1
