- The South African Police Service’s Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations Unit worked with the Department of Homeland Security to arrest three men.
- The three Gauteng residents, one of whom was in the country illegally are accused of various crimes related to child sexual abuse material.
- The arrests took place last week in a simultaneous takedown operation.
On Tuesday the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) Unit, revealed that three men had been arrested on charges of possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Working together with the Department of Homeland Security in the US, SECI managed to arrest the trio in a simultaneous takedown operation following several months of planning and preliminary investigations. It was through these investigations that the three men were identified as South African users located in Gauteng.
One of the three men arrested is a 63-year old British citizen who was allegedly in the country illegally. Aside from the CSAM that was discovered, the suspect was also in possession of other material.
“The suspect faces offences related to Bestiality where police have seized material of him allegedly having sexual intercourse with a dog,” SAPS wrote in a press release.
The other two suspects were a 43-year old make from Benoni and a 43-year old male from Krugersdorp.
The charges faced by the trio related to CSAM include:
- Possession
- distribution,
- accessing,
- downloading,
- facilitating,
- viewing,
- facilitating the distribution and making available child pornography,
- exposure of a child to adult and child pornography,
- Grooming of a child.
“As a result of these Operations, three South African children who were used during the commission of the above offences were identified and a dog was saved. The Operations will continue throughout the country to unravel a network of child sexual predators. The trio has already appeared before various courts including Springs, Benoni, and Krugersdorp Magistrates Court in Gauteng on Monday, 13 November 2023. Their cases were postponed for further investigation and bail applications,” SAPS writes.
This is a major win for SAPS and hopefully, we see more arrests like this in the future.
[Image – WikimediaImages from Pixabay]
