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Over 340 arrested in global child pornography investigation
The gardaí were among police forces from 10 countries who took part in the inquiry. However a spokesperson for the force said there was no information on any Irish arrests.
POLICE IN TORONTO say 341 people have been arrested, and 386 children rescued from situations where they may be at risk as part of an international investigation into child pornography.
Details of the three-year investigation were revealed at a news conference hosted by the city’s police force this afternoon.
According to local media, 108 of the arrests made were in Canada, including 50 in Ontario, with the remainder in the rest of the country.
The investigation centred on the Toronto-based ‘AzovFilms.com,’ which went out of business in 2011.
Those charged in connection with the case include the head of the company, 42-year-old Brian Way. It’s alleged the company solicited and sold child pornography footage around the world via the internet, according to a press release from Toronto Police.
Authorities from the US, Spain, Sweden and Australia were also involved in the wide-ranging inquiry — several of whom had representatives at today’s press conference.
Toronto Police press release says An Garda Síochána were involved in the investigation. A spokesperson for the force told TheJournal.ie this afternoon that they had no information of any Irish arrests.
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The investigation – known as ‘Project Spade – also covered Mexico, Hong Kong, Norway, Greece and Gibraltar.
Undercover officers from Toronto Police first made contact with Way in October 2010, and began an investigation of his company.
The US Postal Inspection Service was called in as the inquiry developed, and the 42-year-old was arrested in May 2011.
According to the police service, over 45 terabytes of data was seized, and the company had revenues in excess of 4 million Canadian dollars (€2.8 million).
It’s alleged that Way “paid various people to film children for the purpose of creating movies for sale on his website”. He faces a total of 24 charges, including ‘possession of child pornography’ and ‘laundering proceeds of crime’.
(Note: The term ‘child pornography’ is used in this article as it’s the term for the offence used by Interpol, which defines it as “any means of depicting or promoting sexual abuse of a child”).
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Probably the most fascinating serial killer in modern times. I must refamiliarise myself with this.. one wonders did he ever leave anything that today can be tested for DNA. With such amazing advances and how they nailed the EAR aka originally night stalker they (the authorities) don’t even need the suspects own DNA to get results. Hope one day we know for sure.
@William Cecil: Had he been caught he obviously wouldn’t hold the fascination he does today especially give the low number of victims attributed to him in relation to those serial killers who came after him. I think the movie established him in the modern public’s mind. He’d been pretty much forgotten before then. The ones I find horribly fascinating are Edmund Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy all of whom had very high I.Q.’s but most definitely had something awry personality wise and were driven by a compulsion to rape and kill. Ted Kaczynski had an even higher I.Q. but was driven by a different compulsion. These are just the ones that get the most publicity. There have been many with even more gruesome crimes to their name before and since those mentioned.
@William Tallon: lol and after all the resources put into tracking the unibomber it was his brother who figured out it was ted.
I find those with exceptionally high IQ have very low EQ and lack social skills. But very interesting how it manifests Ted Bundy had charm but no empathy, most people are balanced but when you have have high something you lose other traits
@William Cecil: I think they got at least a partial profile from saliva on the back of postage stamps used to mail his letters. But they didn’t go very far with it. It’s more than 50 years after all…
That is of course assumes it’s him who mailed the letters…
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