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Three children rescued during crackdown on child exploitation

Three children rescued during crackdown on child exploitation

 
Three Australian children have been rescued from allegedly ongoing child abuse following one of the country’s biggest crackdowns on offences against children.
 
Officers from Western Australian and Australian Federal Police (AFP) executed more than 60 search warrants in metropolitan and regional locations of WA over the last week.
 
There were 45 people charged with 149 offences, while police said more than 35,000 images and videos of child exploitation material were seized.
 
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Three children have been rescued from ongoing child sexual abuse following a police operation on child offences. (WA Police)

“It has to be remembered that child exploitation material is not pornography, it is direct evidence of children being abused,” WA Police Sex Crime Division Detective Superintendent Gordon Fairman said.

Fairman said identifying, locating and rescuing children involved was the highest priority for WA Police.
 
“People who manufacture, distribute or possess child exploitation material may believe they are anonymous, hiding behind a computer,” he said.
 
“Let me tell you that they are not. As this operation shows, we can identify them, we can locate them and we can prosecute them.”
 
Police say much of the abuse stems from internet grooming, with many predators using online games to target children.
 
“We are seeing more children groomed and then blackmailed to produce extreme child abuse material with the fear that if they don’t the images will be shared with their family and friends,” AFP detective superintendent Graeme Marshall said.
 
The arrests come as National Child Protection Week begins across Australia, with the campaign highlighting the right of children to grow up safely.
 
The number of reports of child exploitation across Australia has doubled from the previous year.
More than 33,000 reports of child exploitation were received in 2021, police said.
 
“These figures show the scale of the problem and how we need everyone in the community, parents, teachers, carers, to be alert,” AFP Detective Superintendent Graeme Marshall said.
 
“Let this serve as a warning to anyone who produces or shares child abuse material – you will be caught.”
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Written by Child Exploitation
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Preda Foundation Inc.

The work of Preda Foundation is focused on alleviating the physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse and suffering of children and preventing abuse through community education and social media.

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