Cape Town — A man who posed as a a teenager to illicit nude pictures from underage girls, is among three Child Sexual Predators arrested for being in possession of and illegally distributing child pornography.
The three men were arrested in a in a joint operation by the SAPS Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) unit and the USA Department of Homelands Security in the past week, SAPS reported.
This brought the total number of Child Online Sexual Predators that have been arrested since November to seven. The other arrests took place in Gauteng and KZN.
According to Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, these arrests form part of an international operation to trace manufacturers, users, and distributors of child pornography.
#sapsHQA 53-year-old man from Worcester was the first to be arrested on Wednesday, 17 January 2024. He has so far been found with 95 000 images and 6000 videos of child pornography. He faces a charge of accessing, distributing and possession of child pornography.… pic.twitter.com/AhEhJfC62V
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) January 23, 2024
The three suspects were arrested in Worcester, Kraaifontein and Mitchell’s Plain, respectively.
“A 53-year-old man from Worcester was the first to be arrested on Wednesday, 17 January 2024. He has so far been found with 95 000 images and 6000 videos of child pornography. He faces a charge of accessing, distributing and possession of child pornography.” Mathe said
“The second suspect, a 40-year-old man was arrested in Kraaifontein on Thursday, 18 January 2024. In his possession, he was found with more than 149 000 pictures of child pornography as well as more than 5000 videos. He was found in possession of two unlicensed firearms and various calibre of ammunition, as well as 9 snakes of which three did not have a permit. He is facing charges of possession of illegal firearms and ammunition, possession, distribution and accessing of child pornography.”
“A 32-year-old man from Mitchell’s Plan was the third suspect to be arrested on Friday, 19th January 2024. He was found to be chatting and luring underage girls on chat group where nude pictures where exchanged.” Mathe added.
All suspects appeared in the Worcester, Kraaifontein and Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Courts before their cases were postponed for further investigation.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
