Teachers, doctors, pastors, and coaches were among the more than 300 people recently arrested in a worldwide child pornography investigation. Undercover officers with the Toronto Police Service Child Exploitation unit infiltrated a wide-ranging operation and rescued nearly 400 children from sexual abuse.
According to Charisma News, Canadian authorities worked with international governments to apprehend those involved:
Toronto police said on Thursday the arrest of 348 people, including 108 in Canada, 76 in the United States and 164 in other countries from Spain to Australia, came after a three-year investigation of a Toronto company that distributed child porn.
"Of concern to the investigators was the number of people (arrested) who have close contact with children. The arrests included 40 school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, 32 people who volunteered with children, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests, and three foster parents," Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, head of Toronto's Sex Crimes Unit, told a news conference.
The investigators catalogued 45 terabytes worth of images and video that had been sent to over 50 countries via a website called azovfilms.com (no longer operating). Inspector Beaven-Desjardins said the material was filled with “horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst they have ever viewed.” NBC News elaborates:
Citing a particularly egregious example, she said police found over 350,000 images and over 9,000 videos of child sexual abuse in the home of a retired Canadian school teacher. Some of the images were of children known to the man and he was also charged with sexually abusing a child relative.
As of this writing, investigators continue making arrests around the world.
*This Article First Published 11/15/2013