Swiss police ‘catfish’ operation helps identify 2,200 child sex offenders
More than 2,200 child sex offenders and consumers of child sex abuse material worldwide have been identified using the online profile of a convicted criminal.
Operation Ninja Turtle, a secret operation conducted over several years by the Aargau cantonal police in collaboration with Swiss Federal police has resulted in arrests in several Swiss cantons and in several countries.
Suspected perpetrators in Switzerland and around the world have been reported to the relevant authorities, the Aargau cantonal police said on Tuesday. The 2,200 people identified are consumers of child sex abuse material and perpetrators who abuse children themselves. Arrests have been made in Switzerland, France, Romania, Croatia, Spain, Peru and Brazil.
The Swiss police used the online profile of a convicted child sex offender based in canton Aargau to identify other perpetrators of the crime. The convicted criminal operated under the pseudonym “Ninja Turtle” on GigaTribe, a platform that enables data to be exchanged anonymously.
“The fight against pedophile crime on the Internet is resource-intensive and requires close cooperation both at the official level and with the website operators. As the operation “Ninja Turtle” shows, however, this effort to protect potential victims is worthwhile,” said the Aargau cantonal police in a statement on Tuesday.
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