Gardaí seize devices with child sexual abuse material as part of international operation
As part of the international investigation into child sexual abuse material, gardaí seized 18 devices as evidence.
Gardaí have seized a number of devices as part of an operation into child sexual abuse material.
As part of an international operation targeting the sharing and distributing of child sexual abuse material, An Garda Síochána has conducted a number of searches across several locations in Ireland and seized devices containing such material.
"The searches at nine locations nationwide were co-ordinated by the Online Child Exploitation Unit within the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and conducted by Gardaí attached to Divisional Protective Services Units," a Garda spokesperson said.
Nine locations were searched in Ireland and 18 devices have been seized as evidence. The spokesperson added:
Led by the Polish National Police in conjunction with Europol’s Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) and 11 EU member states, Operation Fever has led to 166 arrests across Europe.
Of these, 111 people have so far been arrested for sharing and distributing child sexual abuse material.
Those arrested were identified to have produced paedophile films and images, run paedophile forums online, shared or possessed child sexual abuse material, and in many cases were suspected of having physically abused children.
To date, officers attached to European police services with the support of a number of agencies in the US — the FBI, the National Crime Agency, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — have conducted more than 770 searches in Europe.
These searches have secured the seizure of over 594,000 files with illegal content contained on more than 6,000 digital media platforms.
