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| Europol ends child sex crackdown | Europol ends child sex crackdown |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Europol says it has arrested 115 alleged child sex offenders in raids across 18 EU nations and Canada. | Europol says it has arrested 115 alleged child sex offenders in raids across 18 EU nations and Canada. |
| It says its two-year Operation Typhoon - targeting child sex offenders on the internet - has now been concluded. | It says its two-year Operation Typhoon - targeting child sex offenders on the internet - has now been concluded. |
| The suspects had different professional backgrounds, some of them being teachers or caretakers in close contact with children. | The suspects had different professional backgrounds, some of them being teachers or caretakers in close contact with children. |
| It says it identified five children - aged between four and 12 - who had been victims of sexual crimes. | It says it identified five children - aged between four and 12 - who had been victims of sexual crimes. |
| Europol says its investigation was led by Austria's Criminal Intelligence Service (.BK) which had detected an internet service provider misused by child sex offender groups to distribute illegal content on the internet. | |
| Log files collected by the .BK were then sent to Europol together with offending images. | |
| In all, 221 suspects have been identified of which 115 have been arrested, Europol says. | |
| The suspects were detained during house searches in Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland. | |
| Europol did not specify when the arrests were made. | |
| "Child sexual abuse is one of the most horrific crimes so I am extremely pleased that Europol together with our partners have been successful in having these offenders identified and arrested," Europol Director Rob Wainwright said in a statement. | |
| "But most of all I am glad to see that vulnerable children have been identified and saved from further harm." | |
| Europol says it has so far supported 23 international operations, which has led to the identification of some 1,600 child sex offenders and the rescue of many victims. |