A joint operation between detectives from the South African Police Service’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units and the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation has resulted in the arrest of an Eastern Cape man for possession, manufacturing and distribution of child pornography.
The 53-year-old suspect was arrested at his home in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, on Wednesday.
During the raid at his house, investigators found 16 hard drives, a laptop, two video cameras and two cameras.
He appeared in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on Thursday where he was granted R40 000 bail.
He is due to appear again in court on 28 April 2015.
The modus operandi of the people using the website was to create a false profile on popular social media websites purporting to be young teenagers in order to lure their victims.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said once they got the attention of these children, users – also pretending to be children in the same age brackets as their victims – persuaded their victims to engage in sexually explicit activity.
What the victims were not aware of was that they were being secretly recorded by web camera.
The accused’s alleged criminal activities attracted the attention of the authorities in the US after seven people were arrested using specific websites, whose core activities were to lure innocent children to engage in pornographic activities.
“Upon further investigation the FBI team, using the logs of the IP addresses those people had visited, found that the website was being administered from somewhere in South Africa,” said Makgale.
By then, about 600 victims aged between eight and 13, the majority of whom are from the United States, had been exploited via these websites.
“There is a likelihood that the accused may be extradited to the United States as his victims and users of his services are from that country, to face charges there,” said Makgale. – SAnews.gov.za
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