Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider speaks to media after a large and sophisticated child abuse ring was uncovered. Photo / AFP
Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider speaks to media after a large and sophisticated child abuse ring was uncovered. Photo / AFP
Police in Australia say they have dismantled a “sophisticated” global network of paedophiles, arresting 19 men with the help of the FBI.
Helen Schneider, the Australian Federal Police commander, said 13 children had been rescued from the clutches of the “dangerous” network, which used “sophisticated” knowledge of the dark web to evade police for up to 10 years.
A suspect's computer from the scene of an arrest. Photo / Australian Federal Police via AP
A government employee in Canberra is among 98 men accused of sharing exploitative images of children.
Among the alleged offenders was a man who is accused of filming himself abusing a toddler. There were allegedly 800 child victims in videos and pictures on the man’s hard drives on which officers also found instructions on how to deceive police under questioning.
“The longer people like this avoid detection, the longer the cycle of abuse continues. This was a sophisticated network,” Schneider said.
Nineteen men have been charged and 13 Australian children have been removed from harm under an AFP-coordinated investigation into a sophisticated online child abuse network. https://t.co/V4aBPR9HM6
Two of the 19 men were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of almost 15 years in the Australian Capital Territory and five years in New South Wales state, Schneider added.
The men, aged between 32 and 81, distributed images and videos of child-abuse material, chatted on message platforms and allegedly used encryption to avoid detection.
Most of the Australian offenders were employed in jobs that required a high degree of knowledge of internet networks. Some are accused of having produced their own child abuse material, police said.
A suspect's computer after police charged 19 men in Australia with child sex abuse offences. Photo / Australian Federal Police via AP
The long-running investigation made headlines in 2021 when FBI special agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were gunned down as they prepared to search the home of reclusive paedophile David Lee Huber.
Huber, a 55-year-old father and experienced computer programmer, had watched through the doorbell camera as the agents approached his apartment in Sunrise, near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He killed Alfin and Schwartzenberger with an automatic rifle and injured three others before turning the weapon on himself.
Evidence on Huber’s computer led police to expand their investigation across the US and to Australia.
“Criminals using encryption and the dark web are a challenge for law enforcement, but Operation Bakis shows that when we work together we can bring alleged offenders before the courts,’’ said Schneider, who commanded the operation.
A summary of the spread of suspects, arrests and children taken into care from Operation Bakis. Illustration / Australian Federal Police
Nitiana Mann, the FBI’s legal attaché in Canberra, said: “The complexity and anonymity of these platforms mean that no agency or country can fight these threats alone.”
Mann said 79 people had been arrested in the United States as part of the same investigation and 43 had been convicted of child abuse offences.
Where to get help
If you have concerns or suspicions about someone who may be trading in or producing child sexual abuse images or videos, contact Customs confidentially on 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
If you are, or know of, someone who is at risk or being abused, contact the police immediately on 111.
