Irish girls rescued in porn sting
A Number of young girls have been rescued from child abusers as a result of a major garda operation over the past two years.
The operation, which is continuing, is being carried out with the help of other police forces and Interpol.
Senior officers disclosed last night that they had established that girls as young as 10 were being exploited by criminals, who were producing and distributing indecent images of them on the internet.
As a result of their inquiries, they discovered that a number of Irish girls were being abused and this led to an intensive effort by members of the domestic violence and sexual assault unit to track down the children and rescue them.
Gardai said last night they were now satisfied that none of the girls were "at risk" anymore.
Images
The unit, which is part of the national bureau of criminal investigation, initiated the inquiries after concerns were expressed that at least one of the girls being used to produce the images was Irish.
Several others were then found to have been used by the producers of the pornographic images as inquiries spread around the world.
Gardai worked closely with a special Interpol unit in Lyons, France, the FBI in the United States, the PSNI and police forces in Britain.
Officers said the inquiries had been under way since 2006 and were expected to continue for some time as a result of ongoing developments in their investigation.
Gardai made extensive use of the massive computer data base set up by the Interpol agency to help track down the abused children and end their horrific ordeal. They said searches were carried out around the world and clues were picked up as a result of forensic examination of computer data. Interviews with suspects also produced significant intelligence which opened up fresh avenues of inquiry.
But officers said they were anxious to keep key details of how they operated "under wraps" as the operation was continuing.
"This has been a lengthy investigation and it is likely to keep going for some time.
"Our main focus was on finding the children and rescuing them from the porn producers. After we had achieved our primary aim, we then set about trying to apprehend those responsible for this serious crime," one officer said last night.
"This is simply one of many ongoing inquiries by police forces throughout the world to combat the growth of child porn on the internet and it is vital for success that the forces work closely together and share intelligence at every level," he added.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
