Italian Police Arrest 12 in Major Child Pornography Crackdown
Rome: Italian police on Wednesday announced the arrest of 12 individuals as part of an extensive investigation into child pornography, which notably included an expert in child protection. This operation marks a significant step in combating online sexual exploitation of minors.
According to Ansa News Agency, the operation led to the arrest of 12 people and the citation of 14 others. Authorities also seized numerous computer devices containing tens of thousands of child pornography files. This “complex operation” targeted online child pornography across 18 cities, involving the State Police’s Operational Center for Cyber Security in Venice, coordinated by the local prosecutor’s office and the National Center for the Countering of Online Child Pornography of the Postal Police Service.
Codenamed “Viper 2,” the operation originated from previous undercover activities by the COSC special unit in Venice. Last year, this same effort led to 60 searches and the arrest of 28 individuals linked to international paedo
phile communities. This recent sweep covered several provinces, including Lecce, Sassari, Siracusa, Massa, Pisa, Bergamo, Milan, Monza Brianza, Isernia, Caserta, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Alessandria, Cuneo, Novara, Venice, Vicenza, and Treviso.
The suspects, all male, range in age from 22 to 69. Among them is a man who claimed to have connections with experts in online child protection, but investigators suspect this was a cover to amass child pornography material and remain active in paedophile groups. The investigation was conducted undercover on a widely-used messaging platform, monitoring approximately 130 virtual groups where paedophile users globally exchanged thousands of images and videos depicting child abuse.
The CNCO reported foreign users identified in the chat groups to their respective countries through international police cooperation channels. To execute 26 search warrants issued by the Venice Prosecutor’s Office, around 200 Postal Police officers were deployed across 18 provinces. The arrests
were made in the provinces of Sassari, Syracuse, Pisa, Milan, Isernia, Rome, Alessandria, Venice, and Treviso.