So far, nearly 100 people in the United States and Australia have been arrested on allegations of child sexual abuse after the fatal shooting of two FBI agents led to the collapse of an alleged international pedophilia ring, authorities announced Tuesday.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said 19 men had been arrested on charges of sharing child abuse material online, while at least 13 children were rescued from further harm as a result of a joint operation with the FBI, dubbed “Operation Bakis.” “.
The development brought the total number of people arrested as part of the joint investigation to 98, with at least 79 arrests made so far by the FBI, according to the Australian agency.
The joint investigation began after the two FBI agents investigating the alleged pedophile ring were fatally shot in 2021 while executing a search warrant in Sunrise, Florida, against a man suspected of being in possession of child abuse material, the agency said in a press release.
Special agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were fatally shot and three other agents were injured, while the gunman, David Lee Huber, 55, was also killed, NBC News previously reported.
The Australian agency said the coordinated investigation was formally launched in 2022 after the FBI provided the Australian Center for Countering Child Exploitation with intelligence on Australian individuals suspected of being part of a “peer-to-peer network allegedly sharing child abuse material.” on the dark web”.
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The Australian suspects are between the ages of 32 and 81, the federal police agency said. So far, two have been sentenced, she said.
Most of the Australian suspects were employed in occupations that required a high degree of knowledge of Internet networks, the agency said.
“Members used software to share files anonymously, chat on message boards and access web sites within the network,” he said.
The City of Santa Monica has agreed to pay $230 million to more than two hundred alleged victims of sexual abuse. The financial reward comes decades after one of the city’s employees committed the alleged crimes.
Some were also accused of having produced their own child abuse material to share with members of the network, the agency said.
“Viewing, distributing or producing child abuse material is a horrific crime, and the lengths to which these suspected criminals will go to avoid detection makes them especially dangerous: the longer they avoid detection, the longer they can perpetuate the cycle of abuse.” Australian said. Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider said in a statement.
“The success of Operation Bakis demonstrates the importance of law enforcement partnerships, nationally here in Australia, but also internationally,” he said.
“We are proud of our longstanding relationship with the Australian Federal Police, which resulted in 19 Australian men facing criminal prosecution as a result of our collaborative investigation,” FBI legal attaché Nitiana Mann said in a separate statement.
“The complexity and anonymity of these platforms means that no agency or country can fight these threats alone,” Mann said. “As we continue to build bridges through collaboration and teamwork, we can ensure that the good guys win and the bad guys lose.”
She said 43 people had been convicted of child abuse crimes in the United States as part of the investigation, according to The Associated Press.
The FBI also alerted other countries to suspects within their jurisdictions, Mann said according to the AP, but did not name those countries.
