A Toronto company is the target of an international child porn investigation in which 348 suspects have been arrested and at least 386 minors were rescued from harm’s way, announced Toronto police on Thursday, November 14.
Listen“Horrific images of abuse”
“It’s excruciatingly painful. It’s so overwhelming,” says Paul Gillespie, former head of the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Police Force, and current head of the Kids Internet Safety Alliance (Kinsa) which trains investigators. “There are millions of men trading child pornography right now…There are hundreds of thousands of children involved, that are seen and memorialized in these horrific images of abuse in movies…The average age of the child in these …movies is about five years old.”
Police in 50+ countries involved
Police in more than 50 countries took part in an investigation that started in 2010. Toronto police had been receiving tips and complaints about a local company called Azov Films which was marketing so-called naturist movies of naked children it claimed were legal. A closer look revealed a hidden darker website which contained pornographic pictures which were distributed around the world.
Some made porn using their own children
Working with contact lists recovered from computers, Toronto police had law enforcement agencies around the world conduct searches and make arrests. Several suspects were found to have been not just trading but making their own pornographic videos, some involving their own children. Suspects include school teachers, doctors, priests, actors and foster parents.
Azov Films owner Brian Way has been charged with 24 offences, including child pornography. Police allege he instructed people around the world to make the videos and he distributed them. He is in prison awaiting trial.
“Brilliant cyber cops” being trained by Canadian group
Police from different countries are getting better at working together to crack down on child porn makers, traders and consumers, says Gillespie. His organization helped police in South Africa to organize raids and prosecute suspects in this case.
“Those who have this sexual interest in children are often not worried about the police because they know how many of them there are, (and) they know how few investigators there are globally. But the truth is police are getting better.
“We’re now training many more developing nations who have brilliant cyber cops on the beat and we’re globalizing the cyber force. And that’s Kinsa’s mandate, to try to get everybody working together so that we can be more effective. And this is a great example that it’s working,” says Gillespie.
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