NZ Police Aid International Effort to Stop Child Porn, Helps Canada Rescue 382 Children

New Zealand police helped Canadian investigators track down a child porn syndicate leading to the rescue of 386 children and the apprehension of 348 suspects.

Canadian police discovered a Web site outside of Canada that was said to be the distribution of child abuse videos all over the world. Authorities launched an investigation with the aid of sex crime units in New Zealand and Australia.

New Zealand Police detective senior sergeant John Michael has confirmed their assistance of the international investigation. He said the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand (OCEANZ) has been working with Australian authorities on Project Spade led by police in Canada.

Detective Michael said the operation has not led to any charges being filed against people in New Zealand.

While no Kiwis have been charged for the Project Spade case, four suspected pedophiles have been reportedly caught in an international sex sting involving a computer-generated 10-year-old child named "Sweetie." The New Zealanders had allegedly offered to pay for "Sweetie" to give them an online sex show.

The news broke out on Nov. 5 with the involvement of Terre des Hommes. The children's rights organisation based in Netherlands has identified 1,000 adults who were willing to pay money to see children perform sexual acts in front of a web cam in developing countries.

The Dutch organisation has employed the aid of virtual Filipino child as the bait for the international sex sting operation. Researchers have identified adults from 65 countries who wanted to see the girl naked. Terre des Hommes handed the footage of child predators to Interpol. Among the names listed belong to four New Zealanders, according to a One News report.

While "Sweetie" chats with the child predators, researchers will try to gather evidence about the viewers in social media and find their real identities. The children's rights organisation plans to use the evidence in a global petition to call on governments to implement proactive investigation to apprehend child predators.

The arrests of 348 people from different countries due to Project Spade is part of the global fight against child pornography and trafficking.