THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CCSE (countering child sexual exploitation) team of the state police on Sunday arrested 28 persons, registered 370 cases and seized numerous electronic equipment in an operation conducted against the viewing and sharing of objectionable content related to children.
As many as 429 devices like mobile phones, modems, hard disks, memory cards, laptops and computers were seized.
ADGP (headquarters) and nodal officer for Cyberdome Manoj Abraham said that many of the videos and pictures –– child sex abusive material (CSAM) –– in the devices appear to be of local children between five and 16 years of age.
He said that among the arrested are tech-savvy youths with good jobs who could use all kinds of encrypted handles to upload and download the materials.
Some are suspected to be involved in the trafficking of children also as there are many chats to this effect in their devices, he said.
As many as 477 locations were identified throughout the state after constant electronic surveillance, and a covert operation named P-HUNT_21.1, was planned.
The information collected was passed on to 310 teams under the district police chiefs.
The teams comprised of cyber cell members, technical experts and women police.
The raids were carried out under the supervision of the district police chiefs.
The CCSE team had been identifying the persons downloading and uploading CSAMs from the internet.
The IP addresses were collected using specialized software and persons sharing such pictures on social media handles were traced using different tools.
Reports received from other specialised agencies were also analysed.
Many Telegram and WhatsApp groups such as Kids Videos, Adholokam, Anikhafans, Incesto 17, Real Girls, Girls and Boys chat group, Only kids videos, Teenporn, Ammayi, Sukhalokam, Bigmelon etc, with more than 500 members each, were identified and listed out.
ADGP Manoj Abraham said that details of others involved in circulating these images and videos are being collected.
“Strong action will be taken against them, continuing with our policy of zero tolerance in these matters,” he said.
The India Child Protection Fund (ICPF) also had provided the technical expertise and resources to detect these online crimes.
The state police’s CCSE unit, focusing on preventing online child exploitation and child pornography on the net, constituted in January 2019.
Viewing, distributing or storing any child pornographic content is a criminal offense and can result in imprisonment up to five years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.
The state police have urged the public who comes across any channels or groups that spread child sex-related content, to inform Hi Tech Crime Enquiry Cell, Cyberdome or cyber cells at the earliest.