Child porn ring fears after Plett man arrested

Police scrutinising global profiles

THE arrest this week of a Plettenberg Bay resident, suspected of being a key figure in an international child pornography ring, has led to police uncovering hundreds more people around the globe involved in distributing graphic images of children.

Investigators are now scrutinising 334 online profiles gleaned from the man’s computer, and have not ruled out the possibility of more South Africans being arrested.

Yesterday, Lieutenant Colonel Heila Niemand, who is involved in a number of global child pornography probes, warned that the use and sharing of child pornography was a rapidly expanding problem in the country.

“It’s increasing and getting worse,” she said, adding that as many as 30 South Africans had been arrested last year for possession of child pornography.

In the latest arrest, the Plettenberg Bay man, a 37-year-old computer engineer, was taken into custody in his home early on Tuesday in a sting which formed part of an operation coordinated by the FBI.

He is one of at least two South Africans arrested in less than two months for their alleged links to apparently separate global child pornography rings.

The Plettenberg Bay man appeared in the magistrate’s court there on Wednesday on child pornography possession and distribution charges. He was granted bail of R10 000, but by late yesterday had not paid so remained in custody. He is expected back in the dock in April.

Niemand, from Gauteng’s family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, who headed the South African arm of the probe, explained to Weekend Argus that the man’s arrest followed the October arrest of a suspected paedophile in Belgium.

Investigators from that country identified the Plettenberg Bay man through the Belgian’s online profile, and fed information to police here.

Niemand and her Belgian counterpart then tracked the man’s online activity.

Niemand said yesterday that during the swoop on his home, officers had seized the man’s laptop, hard drive and camera. One of his files they uncovered was named “rape and kill”.

Niemand said that while combing through the people to whom the man was linked, investigators had come across 334 other online profiles.

Niemand said it was too soon to say whether more South Africans would be arrested, but that this had not been ruled out.

“We need about a week to go through all the profiles.”

The investigation would also include trying to identify, track and then rescue the children featured in the pornographic material.

In a similar arrest in November, a 40-year-old City of Cape Town employee previously convicted for possession of child pornography was taken into custody for allegedly producing child pornography in Cape Town, then distributing it in the US. Pornographic material had allegedly been found on computer equipment in the man’s home.

It was understood that Homeland Security agents in the US had picked up on the man’s alleged activities about two months before his arrest.

Niemand was also involved in that investigation, which formed part of an Interpol probe.

Yesterday she said the US wanted to have him extradited, and that this application process had already started. But this case and the Plettenberg Bay arrest did not appear to be linked.

In another international child pornography ring probe, seven South Africans were among 348 suspects arrested in an operation that was revealed publicly in November 2013.

The probe was driven by Canada and, in a statement at the time, Toronto police said it had led to 386 children being rescued. Police had managed to pinpoint an “exploitation and distribution company” that operated a website where customers from around the world could order movies.

The statement said the company’s head allegedly paid to have children in Eastern European countries filmed for the movies, and that police found “hundreds of thousands of images and videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children”.

Niemand said this case was still under investigation.