60 Arrested in 12 Countries for Child Sex Abuse & Child Porn, 4 Girls Rescued

Child sex abuse: Dozens held in raids in Americas and Spain

From BBC Latin America & Caribbean

The ring allegedly broadcast indecent videos of child sex abuse on the internet
Image copyright Getty Images

Officials in Mexico say 60 people have been arrested in the US, Latin America and Spain over alleged links to a ring circulating images of child sex abuse.

The Mexican government said almost 100 raids had been carried out in 12 countries.

Three girls aged between nine and 15 were rescued in Mexico, a government commission said in a statement.

Computers were seized that were allegedly used to post indecent videos on the internet.

The Mexican National Security Commission said searches were carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

"Operation Without Borders" was aimed at "breaking various structures dedicated to the distribution of pornographic material of children via the internet", the commission said in a statement.

A fourth girl was rescued as part of the operation but the commission did not specify in which country.

The raids come two months after Spanish police arrested more than 80 people in raids targeting images of child sex abuse.


79 adults and 2 children arrested in Spain over child pornography
By Taku Dzimwasha IBTimes
October 17, 2015

Eighty-one people arrested in child pornography crackdown twitter.com/policia

Spanish police have detained 81 people, including two children, in a child pornography crackdown across the country on Saturday 17 October. Police said that two minors and two people with mental disabilities were also arrested.

More than 300 police were involved in the country-wide raid across 28 provinces. Police also seized computers and cameras at the suspects' residences.

The investigation was led by "cyberpatrols" who uncovered dozens of people online exchanging the illicit material, at times using peer-to-peer networks. While most of the images shared were of children being abused, some featured images of sadism and bestiality.

Of course, because child sex abuse isn't sick enough for some perverts.

"The agents are continuing to analyze the material seized to determine if there had been crimes of producing child pornography, sexual abuse of minors or connection with pedophiles," Spanish police said in a statement. Police also said, "some of the images seized by police are extremely harsh and show sadism and bestiality".

More than 300 police officers and technological investigators took part in the crackdown across 28 provinces. In total, 80 homes were searched, with police confiscating 96 hard drives, 58 computers, 68 flash drives, four tablets, 195 CDs and DVDs, 18 mobile phones, 25 memory cards, among other pieces of electronics, according to the CNN.

The arrests were the culmination of a year-long investigation to identify internet users that shared graphic images of child pornography using peer-to-peer networks. Police expect to make more arrests in the probes.

Spanish police have previously detained more than 120 people in 2008 in a single operation against child pornography.