Cape Town - Seven South Africans have now been arrested as part of a sweeping global child pornography investigation, and South African police are hunting another 33 suspects.
Canadian police on Thursday night described the Project Spade operation as one of the largest international child porn busts ever.
Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, head of Toronto’s Sex Crimes Unit said 30 police forces from South Africa, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Greece, Hong Kong, Mexico, Norway and the US, among others, led to the rescue of 386 children, most of whom were prepubescent, she said.
The three-year Canadian-led operation netted 348 suspects from around the world. Among them are 108 Canadians, 76 Americans and 164 residents of other countries in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
The list of suspects includes nine clergymen, six police officers, 40 teachers and three foster parents.
South African police spokesman Solomon Makgale said 40 suspects were being sought in South Africa, of whom they had arrested seven.
Six were arrested in August in four provinces - including a former Mpumalanga school principal, two teachers from different schools in Gauteng, a dermatologist from Pretoria and a lawyer in North West.
Both teachers are from Gauteng’s West Rand.
Four of the men are 46 years old, one is 49 and another is 63 years old, but their names cannot be revealed before they plead in court, as the law prescribes with sex-related crimes.
Globally, more than 350 000 images and over 9 000 videos of graphic child sexual abuse were seized.
Police began looking into the operations of a Toronto company called Azovfilms.com and its owner, Brian Way, in October 2010.
Police allege Way, 42, instructed people around the world to create the videos of children ranging from 5 to 12 years of age, then distributed the videos via his company, Azov Films.
* Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department on Friday confirmed it was monitoring a court case against a former school principal who allegedly impregnated a schoolgirl.
Sources in the Clanwilliam district confirmed that the former principal now faced a charge of statutory rape - as the girl was 13 when she fell pregnant. The department’s Paddy Attwell said the WCED no longer had jurisdiction over the teacher because he left the service last month, but he was to stand trial in the Clanwilliam Magistrate’s Court this month.
Cape Argus