Crackdown on Child Porn: Brazil conducts large-scale cybercrime operation, arrests hundreds - CGTN

World
Europe

02:26

Brazil is doing its part to fight child pornography. Police have conducted a nation-wide operation, arresting hundreds. Their message: People who harm children will be punished. CGTN's Paulo Cabral reports from Sao Paulo.

It was the largest operation against child pornography ever conducted in Brazil and authorities claim the biggest single-day crackdown ever carried out in the world. More than 25-hundred police were deployed across 24 states. In all, 251 suspects were arrested and more than one million computer files seized, along with hundreds of computers and cell phones.

Here in Sao Paulo the operation was coordinated by the head of the homicide division of the state police.

ELIZABETE SATO CHIEF OF HOMICIDE DIVISION, SAO PAULO STATE POLICE "We are advancing but still need better results on a national level. We are still far from breaking the back of this activity. This issue, abusing children and teenagers for porn, is a global problem, it's not only in Brazil."

PAULO CABRAL SAO PAULO "The size of this police operation on child pornography in Brazil speaks to the extent and the reach of this crime. And experts say the global nature of child porn makes it much harder to fight."

It was a separate investigation four years ago, that, authorities say, first revealed the depth of Brazil's involvement in this illicit, international industry.

FERNANDA DOMINGUES FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, CYBERCRIME OFFICE "We didn't know the scale of this problem in Brazil until an investigation of the 'deep web' in 2014. Until then we thought Brazil was only a consumer. If we had more operational capacity we would have more targets and would have made more arrests."

But the coordinator of a children's rights NGO sees important gains, despite the challenges.

DENISE CESARIO EXECUTIVE MANAGER, ABRINQ FOUNDATION "Brazil has made important advances not only in the investigation of sex crimes against children and teenagers, but we have also improved legislation on this matter. Several crimes against children and teenagers, like exploring them sexually for profit, are now felonies punishable with tougher sentences."

A large part of Brazil's network of child porn is now down. But all here agree, much more work is needed to break the larger web, while more perpetrators of child porn are no doubt already busy, trying to build new connections. Paulo Cabral, CGTN, Sao Paulo.