Queensland Police have charged five men with a range of child sex offences as part of an international investigation targeting online child exploitation.
As part of Operation Walwa, coordinated by the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sexual Crime Group, Argos, and local Child Protection and Investigation Units executed five search warrants across Queensland.
The international operation, which included the United States Homeland Security Investigations, targeted a website where users paid to access child abuse material online.
Since the commencement of Operation Walwa in 2018, the Queensland Police Service has arrested and charged the five men with 30 child exploitation offences ranging from use carriage service to transmit indecent images to possess and make child exploitation material.
Those charged are expected to appear in court in the coming months.
Detective Superintendent Denzil Clark from the Child Abuse and Sexual Crimes Group said strong law enforcement partnerships and a whole-of-community response are crucial to protect children from online predators.
“Queensland Police will continue sharing our expertise and working collaboratively with our national, interstate and international counterparts to target those who pose a risk to children in our community,” Detective Superintendent Clark said.
“Every day Argos investigators are online monitoring a range of platforms targeting predators who are attempting to exploit children.
“But the first defence in the global fight against online child exploitation is parents and carers, who we ask to be vigilant with electronic devices used by their children and monitor their children’s online activities.”
Argos is a specialist unit in the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sexual Crime Group, which was formed in 1997 to investigate computer facilitated child exploitation. The Unit includes a Victim Identification Team comprising of specialists in the field of digital media analysis who work with national and international partner agencies to identify and rescue children.
Arrest vision can be downloaded below:
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