A total of 66 people, including 30 in Argentina, have been detained so far. simultaneous raids carried out in thirteen provinces, the City of Buenos Aires (CABA)Brazil, Paraguay, the United States, Ecuador and Costa Rica as part of the international operation Luz Infancia IX aimed at combating a network of trafficking images of child sexual abuse, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) reported Thursday.
During the Protected Childhood operation, 30 people were arrested in Argentina; 26 in Brazil, 5 in Paraguay, 2 in the United States, 2 in Ecuador and 1 in Costa Rica, “although these numbers may increase with the development of the Operation, reported the Buenos Aires MPF.
In Argentina, 70 raids were carried out: 15 addresses in CABA, 18 in the province of Buenos Aires, 6 in Córdoba, 8 in Entre Ríos, 3 in Santa Fe, 3 in Chubut, 4 in Chaco, 3 in San Juan, 2 in Misiones, 2 in Neuquén, 1 in Salta, 1 in Formosa, 2 in Jujuy and 1 in La Pampa.
At a press conference that was held this afternoon at the Judicial Investigations Corps of the MPF, the attorney general, Juan Bautista Mahiques, stated that “today (for this Thursday) since 4 in the morning different forces of the country and of countries are carrying out raids simultaneous”.
The Public Ministry of Accusation (MPA) reports that the Specialized Prosecutor for Sexual Cybercrimes participated in an international and simultaneous mega-operation against a child pornography network.
– Mpa Jujuy (@MpaJujuy) June 30, 2022
“Unfortunately, Argentina is one of the countries with the highest consumption of child sexual exploitation,” he warned.
He stressed that “the investigation has to be done in a coordinated manner and, beyond the success of the process, what this reflects is the complexity of perverse people who commit this type of crime.”
“As the Judiciary we need parents to be encouraged to report; for different reasons they do not. It is a constant that once one is encouraged to say there begins to be a cataract of complaints, and the victims increase considerably,” he said.
“We are committed to attack the entire cycle of child sexual exploitation: from the production of prohibited material to its eventual distribution, commercialization and even mere possession“, he added.
Within the framework of the operation, the Formosa prosecutor specified that police officers from that province “carried out a raid on a home in the San Martín neighborhood, where they managed to disrupt a gang that marketed and distributed pornographic content of minors.”
The prosecutor specialized in Computer Crimes, Daniela Dupuy, explained that “many cases start like this because of distribution, because of the facilitation of images and videos”and added that “when the devices are analyzed, it is detected that the crime of grooming is committed, harassment in which boys and girls are sent this exchange of sexual content. A high percentage of cases of sexual abuse were also detected. , and in some intrafamilial”.
For his part, the Minister of Justice and Security of CABA, Marcelo D’Alessandro, stressed that “it is very important that this be made visible” because “we need people to file complaints.”
The “operation made it possible to dismantle this network of perverts” in which “Many electronic devices and telephones were seized and will later be examined”the official specified.
Meanwhile, the Formosa prosecutor Natalia Tafettani, who is in charge of the case in that province, reported that the international operation “began several months ago.”
The Protected Childhood investigation was initiated by the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Brazilian National Secretariat of Public Security in 2017who called the actions they have been carrying out since then Operative Luz de Infancia.
In the city of Santa Fe, a man accused of producing and distributing images of sexual abuse against children was arrested during a raid carried out by personnel from the Agency for the Investigation of Human Trafficking and Gender Violence
Through P2P (Peer to Peer) software – a file exchange program in which all kinds of documents are shared – they captured information from users who download and share material with child sexual exploitation content, a crime provided for in the Article 128 of the Argentine Penal Code, specified the MPF.
As part of this operation, in 2019 the Garrahan Hospital doctor, Ricardo Russo, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.responsible for producing and consuming images of child sexual exploitation.
Within the framework of the operation, the Formosa prosecutor specified that police officers from that province “carried out a raid on a home in the San Martín neighborhood, where they managed to disrupt a gang that marketed and distributed pornographic content of minors.”
Tafettani said “the raided house was reached after tracing the IPs of the computers.”
Personnel from the Economic Crimes, Vehicle Theft, Homicide, Criminalistics, Criminal Intelligence and Operations and Security Divisions of the Paraná Departmental Headquarters worked in the operations, together with the prosecutor in charge, Leandro Dato
The official added that they have images linked to the investigation, that cell phones were seized and that “once the computers are opened we will see if there are victims from Formosa.”
In the city of Santa Fe, a man was arrested accused of producing and distributing images of sexual abuse against children, during a raid carried out by personnel from the Agency for the Investigation of Trafficking in Persons and Gender Violence, of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) of the provincial police, in a house in Cochabamba at 4500 in the Barranquitas neighborhood, in the west of the provincial capital.
The Santa Fe security forces had arrested last Monday in the cities of Reconquista and Avellaneda three young people between 18 and 22 years old accused of distributing sexual abuse material and seized 10 cell phones, 5 memory cards, 2 tablets, 4 CPUs, 3 flash drives, 1 notebook, 1 netbook and 6 hard drives.
In Entre Ríos, two men were arrested this Thursday by local police and federal security forces during multiple raids in Paraná in which two million pesos, a weapon, cell phones, hard and portable drives, removable memories, pen drives, computers, compact discs (CDs), DVDs, VHS and digital cameras were also seized.
During multiple raids in Paraná, two million pesos, a weapon, cell phones, hard and portable drives, removable memories, pen drives, computers, compact discs (CDs), DVDs, VHS and digital cameras were also seized.
Local spokesmen reported that the men are of legal age and were arrested for crimes of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents online.
By order of the Judge of Guarantees, Carola Bacaluzzo, more than 1,000 CDs and DVDs, six VHS, two flash drives and two digital cameras were retained.
Personnel from the Economic Crimes, Vehicle Theft, Homicide, Criminalistics, Criminal Intelligence, and Operations and Security Divisions of the Paraná Departmental Headquarters worked together with the prosecutor in charge, Leandro Dato.
In addition to Formosa, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe, the series of raids is also carried out in the city of Buenos Aires, province of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Chubut, Chaco, San Juan, Misiones, Neuquén, Salta, Jujuy and La Pampa.
