Police ID 500 child victims of sex abuse

POLICE found more than 30 million images of child sexual abuse and identified some 500 victims in Scotland’s first-ever national operation to tackle online child sex abuse.

Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said the six-week-long Operation Latisse showed that online abuse was a “national threat”, with victims ranging from just three years old to 18.

So far, 77 people have been arrested as a result of the work – including six registered sex offenders and four people regarded as being in a “position of trust”.

Grooming

Of the 523 “victims or potential victims”, 122 have been referred to child protection services.

More than 390 charges have been brought so far, Police Scotland said, with crimes including rape, grooming, sexual extortion and indecent communication with children, as well as drugs offences, possession of a firearm and bestiality.

The operation, which ran from June 6 to July 15, focused on the distribution, possession and sharing of indecent images of children, online grooming, the live streaming of sexual abuse and the sexual extortion of youngsters over the internet.