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Thiruvananthapuram, June 27 (PTI) A total of 47 people,
including youngsters, have been arrested across Kerala for
allegedly seeking child abuse material on the darknet during
the COVID-19 lockdown, the state police said on Saturday.
Over 140 electronic devices have been seized from the
arrested, the police said.
After detecting a spike in online activity from the state
seeking the child abuse material particularly on the darknet,
the CCSE (Countering Child Sexual Exploitation) team swung
into action, said Additional Director General of Police
(ADGP) Manoj Abraham.
Simultaneous raids were conducted across the state
early Saturday and the arrests were made, Abraham told PTI.
Many people were being monitored and more arrests would
be made after scientific evaluation of the seized equipment
that included mobile phones, modems, hard drives, memory
cards, laptops and computers containing graphic and illegal
videos and pictures of children.
The most distressing part was that many of the
videos/pictures appear to be those of local children in age
group of 6-15, Abraham said.
A similar trend was found in porn groups operating over
WhatsApp and Telegram and number of such groups has increased
during the COVID-19 lockdown period, he said.
The use of malwares to activate the webcams of victims to
steal information of children has also been reported in many
parts of the country.
Abuse of children locked up in their homes is evident and
from the pictures/videos being uploaded and shared during
this period it was suspected that many more people were
involved in the trafficking of children also as there are
many chats to this effect in their devices.
The police had mobilised 117 teams under the supervision
of IGP (Crimes) S Sreejith and conducted the simultaneous
raids.
At least 89 cases were registered and details of rest of
the people involved in circulating the images and videos were
being further collected.
The CCSE unit for Kerala police was constituted in January
with special emphasis on preventing online child exploitation
and pornography on the net.
The team operates in close contact with the INTERPOL-Crimes
against Children Unit and the International Centre for
Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC).
As per the current law, viewing, distributing or storing
of any child pornographic content is a criminal offence and
can result in upto five years imprisonment and a fine upto Rs
10 lakh,police said in a press release.
Considering child security as the responsibility of every
member of society, the police have sought the support of the
community in identifying any such channels or groups that
spread child sex-related content and urged the public to
inform the Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell, Cyberdome or Cyber
cells at the earliest.
Nine people were arrested from Kollam district, while five
each were held from Ernakulam and Palakkad districts, and
four each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode districts.
Three each from Kannur, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts
were arrested while two each from Pathanamthitta,Malappuram,
Thrissur, Kasaragod and Wayanad were also reported.
There was one arrest from Idukki district. PTI RRT
NVG NVG
including youngsters, have been arrested across Kerala for
allegedly seeking child abuse material on the darknet during
the COVID-19 lockdown, the state police said on Saturday.
Over 140 electronic devices have been seized from the
arrested, the police said.
After detecting a spike in online activity from the state
seeking the child abuse material particularly on the darknet,
the CCSE (Countering Child Sexual Exploitation) team swung
into action, said Additional Director General of Police
(ADGP) Manoj Abraham.
Simultaneous raids were conducted across the state
early Saturday and the arrests were made, Abraham told PTI.
Many people were being monitored and more arrests would
be made after scientific evaluation of the seized equipment
that included mobile phones, modems, hard drives, memory
cards, laptops and computers containing graphic and illegal
videos and pictures of children.
The most distressing part was that many of the
videos/pictures appear to be those of local children in age
group of 6-15, Abraham said.
A similar trend was found in porn groups operating over
WhatsApp and Telegram and number of such groups has increased
during the COVID-19 lockdown period, he said.
The use of malwares to activate the webcams of victims to
steal information of children has also been reported in many
parts of the country.
Abuse of children locked up in their homes is evident and
from the pictures/videos being uploaded and shared during
this period it was suspected that many more people were
involved in the trafficking of children also as there are
many chats to this effect in their devices.
The police had mobilised 117 teams under the supervision
of IGP (Crimes) S Sreejith and conducted the simultaneous
raids.
At least 89 cases were registered and details of rest of
the people involved in circulating the images and videos were
being further collected.
The CCSE unit for Kerala police was constituted in January
with special emphasis on preventing online child exploitation
and pornography on the net.
The team operates in close contact with the INTERPOL-Crimes
against Children Unit and the International Centre for
Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC).
As per the current law, viewing, distributing or storing
of any child pornographic content is a criminal offence and
can result in upto five years imprisonment and a fine upto Rs
10 lakh,police said in a press release.
Considering child security as the responsibility of every
member of society, the police have sought the support of the
community in identifying any such channels or groups that
spread child sex-related content and urged the public to
inform the Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell, Cyberdome or Cyber
cells at the earliest.
Nine people were arrested from Kollam district, while five
each were held from Ernakulam and Palakkad districts, and
four each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode districts.
Three each from Kannur, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts
were arrested while two each from Pathanamthitta,Malappuram,
Thrissur, Kasaragod and Wayanad were also reported.
There was one arrest from Idukki district. PTI RRT
NVG NVG
Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI
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