The police have carried out a large-scale operation against the spread of child pornography online, called “Dark Seeder”, which led to the arrest of five people in flagrante delicto and the reporting of five others .
The investigation, conducted by the Operations Center for Cyber Security (COSC) in Turin and coordinated by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, represents a new blow to the phenomenon of digital child pornography.
The investigation stemmed from a tip from the National Center for the Fight against Online Child Pornography (CNCPO) and was also carried out through undercover operations. The agents were able to identify 22 individuals suspected of sharing and downloading images and videos of child pornography.
The searches, ordered by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, were carried out with the support of the Postal Police departments of Milan, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Imperia, Novara, Savona, and Vercelli.
During the checks, five people —four in the Piedmont capital and one in Novara—were arrested in flagrante delicto for violating Articles 600 ter and quater of the Italian Criminal Code, which punish the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography.
Those arrested, aged between 30 and 61, had a huge amount of illegal content on their digital devices , some of which involved sexual abuse of very young children and scenes of extreme violence. In one case, investigators caught a suspect actively exchanging the illicit material with other users online.
During the searches, the police seized numerous computer devices, which will be subjected to further analysis to determine the extent of the sharing activities and identify any other individuals involved.
(Unioneonline/Fr.Me.)
