Police in Hong Kong, Singapore, 4 other jurisdictions, arrest 435 over child porn
Teenage boy who took pictures of younger sister among those charged locally after operation across East and Southeast Asia in February, March
Hong Kong police have apprehended seven, including a teenage boy who took intimate pictures of his younger sister, in an international crackdown on child pornography that saw more than 400 arrests across six jurisdictions in East and Southeast Asia.
Bonnie Ngan Hoi-ian, chief inspector of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, said intelligence exchange between Hong Kong police and its counterparts in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and South Korea led to the arrest of 435 suspects, aged 13 to 68, in these six locations between February 24 and March 28.
“All the [arrests] are individual cases. We don’t see connections between the criminals, but syndicates trying to profit from child pornography is one of the most important things we are looking into,” Ngan said.
The chief inspector added that the force had conducted cyberpatrols to investigate whether there were local syndicates producing and distributing child pornography.
Among the arrests were seven Hong Kong men, aged between 16 and 49. They were charged with production and possession of child pornography, as well as obstructing police in carrying out their duties. They were among the 435 people arrested.
The 16-year-old boy arrested in the operation was found to have eight photos of his younger sister on his mobile phone.