THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police have busted rackets that circulate child pornographic content via online, arresting 21 people and seizing their devices. It followed the launch of the Operation P-Hunt, a special police drive to curb similar activities.
The police had recently launched a special Child Sexual Exploitation Unit (CSE) to deal with cases related to paedophilia and child pornography. The CSE, which operated under the Hi-tech cell and Cyberdome, had got technical help from the Interpol and International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) for the operation.
This acquired technical expertise helped the cops to zero in on suspects who were watching and propagating visuals and pictures of children over social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Facebook, and encrypted apps such as Telegram.
Raids were conducted after it was found that several groups and 84 individuals were indulged in child pornography. District superintendents led the raids, which began on Sunday and were conducted in 84 places across 12 districts. Devices, including pen drives, laptops, flash memory and mobile phones, used to store and disseminate child pornographic materials were seized.
A total of 26 cases have been registered following the raids --- four in Malappuram district, three in Thiruvananthapuram city and two each in Kollam city, Kollam rural, Alappuzha, Ernakulam city and Ernakulam rural.
ADGP Manoj Abraham, who is also the Cyberdome’s nodal officer, said some of the seized pictures and videos were suspected to be of local girls and that matter is being investigated in detail.
