Police arrest 348 in Canada - led global child porn investigation

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Toronto police say that 386 children were saved and 348 people arrested around the world after a three-year operation

Project Spade involved police forces in 50 countries, but primarily in the United States and eastern Europe Photo: TORONTO POLICE








By Agencies

7:29PM GMT 14 Nov 2013





More than 300 people, including teachers, coaches and doctors, have been arrested worldwide on child pornography charges after a Canadian-led investigation.


Toronto police said yesterday the arrest of 348 people, including 108 in Canada, 76 in the United States and 164 in other countries from Spain to Australia, came after a three-year investigation of a Toronto company that distributed child porn.


Others were arrested in numerous other countries, in an investigation that included Mexico, Norway and Greece. Police said the children were “rescued from child exploitation” but did not give further details.





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The operation involved police forces in 50 countries, but primarily in the United States and eastern Europe, working with Toronto police for three years to arrest producers and purchasers of child pornography.


“Of concern to the investigators was the number of people (arrested) who have close contact with children. The arrests included 40 school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, 32 people who volunteered with children, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests, and three foster parents,” Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, head of Toronto’s Sex Crimes Unit, told a news conference.


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“It is alleged that officers seized hundreds of thousands of videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed,”

More than 350,000 images and over 9,000 videos of child sexual abuse were found during the probe, and arrests are continuing, Beaven-Desjardins said.

The investigation began with a tip-off in 2005 that Brian Way, a Toronto businessman with a production company, was allegedly distributing suspect videos.

Police allege that Way, 42, instructed associates around the world to create the videos of children ranging from five to 12 years of age, which he then distributed via his company, Azov Films, to international customers.

Way has been in jail since 2011 awaiting trial, while the producers who made the illegal films have been convicted in their home countries, police said.

The videos included naked boys from Germany, Romania and Ukraine, which Azov marketed as naturist films and claimed were legal in Canada and the United States.

Police said they executed a search warrant at Way’s company and home, seizing about 1,000 pieces of evidence including computers, servers, DVD burners, an editing suite and hundreds of films.

Insp Beaven-Desjardins said the investigation is ongoing and believed more arrests will be made.

Way’s lawyer, Nyron Dwyer, declined to comment

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This was reported on sky News and the Canadian Police said they have never seen such sickening abuse of young children. Another downside to the internet.