20 suspected Swedish online pedophiles identified

Published 2 July 2024 at 12.37

Domestic. Europol and the American Homeland­security­department­ have in an operation identified 197 people who are suspected of having sexually exploited Filipino children via the Internet. 20 of the cases concern persons residing in Sweden.

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The operation, which was led by Europol and took place in The Hague, took place between 24 and 28 June. It targeted online buyers of child sexual abuse. The material consisted of tens of thousands of chats, images and filmed abuse against children over a twelve-year period.

The trade means that the buyers via the internet instruct adults who are with the children to perform sexual acts against the children, for payment. The abuse is broadcast live to the buyer via webcam.

In the effort, 12,000 unique customer accounts were identified, i.e. accounts that customers created on various platforms to buy live abuse against children. 100 merchant accounts were also identified, accounts that producers or distributors use to receive payments.

The abuse is believed to have taken place in the Philippines with Filipino children. The youngest children in the abuse material were three years old.

20 of the suspects relate to people living in Sweden, according to the police. The crime classifications are rape against a child or sexual abuse against a child. Several of the children were in their 10s and it was common for the buyers to specifically ask to see sexual abuse of children of this age. Due to the early stage of the investigations, the Swedish Police Agency cannot provide further information about the cases at the moment.

32 representatives from the police in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Austria participated in the operation.

Live online child abuse is a branch of human trafficking that is on the rise in the Philippines. According to the police, it is not unusual for the people who buy abuse online to also travel to the Philippines to commit abuse themselves on children who appear in live broadcasts of this type.