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In Italy a large-scale investigation is underway involving hundreds of police officers. Several child pornography groups involved in various forms of sexual abuse of children, including babies, are targeted. In some cases, “direct contact” with the little ones was also offered.
According to ANSA, a large-scale operation against child pornography is under way in Italy, involving more than 300 police officers conducting searches and arrests in 53 provinces and 18 regions. The agencies, which worked undercover on Telegram and WhatsApp for several months, dissolved 16 criminal associations and identified more than 140 groups of child pornography.
Worldwide, 432 people are involved in the network, of which 81 are Italian.
The operation is the most massive in recent years against online child pornography.
“Well-established professionals, workers, students, university consultants, retirees, public and private employees, including a traffic police officer, are involved,” said the investigators, who also used undercover agents who infiltrated pedophile conversations for two years.
The researchers identified 432 active users on Telegram and WhatsApp in groups “intended to exchange images of sexual abuse of children, sometimes babies.”
Sixteen groups were “true criminal associations”, with specific rules in each “chamber” to limit maximum exposure and possible prosecution by law enforcement. At the first sign of doubt about a user, he was expelled from the group.
35% of the 81 Italians surveyed are in Lombardy and Campania. Among them is a 71-year-old Neapolitan optician with university collaborations, but also a 20-year-old unemployed Venetian.
The two are believed to be the leaders of the groups, through which they recruited other accomplices from around the world. There are also 351 foreign users involved in the investigation, with the arrests taking place in Europe and around the world.
15 people were caught red-handed by the postal police.
In addition to the sharing of videos and images of child sexual abuse, in some cases the identified alleged pedophiles also offered the opportunity to have “direct contact” with minors.
Publisher: GM
