Four men have been arrested over their alleged involvement in an “international satanic child sex abuse material ring,” according to Australian Police, who say they’re still working to identify the victims.
Det. Supt. Jayne Doherty, commander of the New South Wales sex crimes squad, said the four men allegedly shared “abhorrent” content with an international network depicting children from infants to 12 years old – as well as animals.
“Police will allege in court that this international group were engaging in conversations and the sharing of material which depicted child abuse and the torture of children involving symbols and rituals linked to Satanism and the occult,” Doherty said Monday.
“Thousands of videos” were found on electronic devices seized during several simultaneous raids on properties in Sydney last week, Doherty said.
“Amongst these deplorable images were also a number of videos depicting the sexual abuse of animals,” she added.
Video released by NSW Police showed the arrest of a 26-year-old man in the inner-city suburb of Waterloo, whom police alleged to have played a “leading role” in the group.
Officers can be seen using a battering ram to enter the apartment and are heard shouting “police” before taking a man dressed in zebra-print shorts and T-shirt into custody.
The investigation was carried out by the NSW sex crimes squad as part of Strike Force Constantine, an operation established in April that investigates the online distribution of child sexual abuse involving ritualistic or satanic themes.
In November, police were made aware a group of men in Sydney, who were allegedly part of a larger international pedophile syndicate.
They were “communicating with each other and… also sharing explicit child abuse material across that international group,” Doherty alleged.
Police could not confirm the identities of the children involved or which country the material was created in.
“We’ve not identified an actual child, but the images are of real children,” she said.
‘Thousands of files’ found
Police executed six search warrants across Sydney last week and arrested four men, according to a police statement.
The 26-year-old was charged with several offenses, including making available child abuse material and possession of child abuse material. He was also charged with disseminating and possessing bestiality material, police said.
Three men, aged 46, 42 and 39, were arrested in the coastal suburb of Malabar in connection with the same child abuse network. They face several charges relating to the possession or distribution of child abuse material.
NSW Police Det. Supt. Jayne Doherty provides details of four men charged with allegedly sharing child abuse material.
All four men, who have not been named by police, were refused bail and will appear in court in January next year.
Police are combing through “thousands of files” to investigate other alleged members of the group suspected of sharing images on encrypted international platforms.
The abuse was “particularly devastating in that they used symbols and rituals around it in the discussions that they were having about abusing children,” she said.
“It had a very ritualistic overview.”