European child abuse network dismantled
European police have arrested 75 suspects in 28 countries for having shared images online as part of a huge child sexual abuse network. Information from Switzerland’s Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) played a key role in the investigation of over 200 cases, Europol stated in a press releaseExternal link on Tuesday.
Operation “Daylight” began after EuropolExternal link received information from Switzerland about a vast distribution network of images showing sexual abuse of children, according to Europol.
Swiss police monitored images from a reference database on peer-to-peer networks to ascertain who was accessing the material. It then sent the results of this operation to 26 European countries.
Europol spokeswomen Claire Georges told the French news service AFP that the investigation has been going on for over a year, and that “intelligence packages” detailing the suspects or their IP addresses have been sent through Europol to 26 countries across Europe, as well as Norway and Switzerland.
The investigation is ongoing with 207 separate criminal lines of enquiry being conducted, and more arrests are expected.
A Swiss Federal Police spokesperson told swissinfo.ch that none of the arrests made so far had been carried out in Switzerland. Five investigations have been handed over to various cantonal police authorities.
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