Child porn suspect held in KZN

DURBAN: A Glenwood man, believed to be part of a syndicate, was arrested by police for being in possession of and distributing pornographic images of a US teenager.

Gauteng detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit arrested the 29year-old man after being alerted by US authorities.

Two other suspects in South Africa are still at large.

The wheelchair-bound man, who cannot be named until he pleads, appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested on Tuesday and was released on R500 bail.

Anti-abuse organisation, Women and Men Against Child Abuse, said yesterday that the bail amount was shockingly inappropriate and there was no consistency with how the courts were dealing with such cases.

“All these suspects have been released on bail in these cases. In our opinion, they should be kept in jail and even in solitary confinement so that they can be prevented from speaking to others in the syndicate,” said its advocacy manager Germaine Vogel.

According to the charge sheet, the State did not oppose bail and the man told the court that he was unemployed and lived on a disability grant of R1 100 and assistance from his family. He said he was unable to afford any amount of bail, but it was paid.

Police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said the arrest was as a result of the police’s ongoing Operation Cloud 9, in which South African police were working closely with their international counterparts. Several other arrests were made earlier this year in connection with similar cases.

Naidoo said US authorities told them they had information that the man was one of the three men in South Africa who were soliciting sexually explicit images from a 13-yearold girl in Virginia, in the US.

He said the man and the minor had communicated through the KIK mobile app.

The officers had searched the man’s residence and seized six hard drives, six cellphones, a USB drive, 22 DVDs and CDs and a 3G card.

Naidoo said he could not divulge details about what evidence had been provided by the US authorities as the probe was at an early stage.

The man is expected to appear in court next year.