Cape Town - A police sergeant in Johannesburg has told in court papers how she tracked down a Fish Hoek man allegedly part of an international child pornography ring.
Stationed in Braamfontein, investigating officer Sergeant Delene Grobler said she had received a request from Chief Inspector Tim van Eester from Antwerp in Belgium to investigate the accused.
Van Eester is involved in a probe on child porn called Operation Cloud 9.
Grobler said Van Eester suspected the accused, 47, of the possession, manufacture and distribution of child pornography. He was among eight arrested in South Africa this year on the same charges.
“The suspects’ main interest is the rape and sexual abuse of babies. They share similar sexual abuse images of babies online via a peer-to-peer file-sharing site,” Grobler said.
Van Eester then sent her a list of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that the accused had allegedly used to connect to a file-sharing website.
“I established which company the IP addresses belong to and the company was served with a subpoena,” Grobler said, adding it then became clear that the accused had been using the IP addresses on the date and times provided by Van Eester.
National police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said the accused, a broker, was arrested last Tuesday night, appeared in the Simon’s Town court on Thursday and was remanded pending further police investigation and for him to appoint a lawyer. The case will be back in court on Thursday.
Two other men and a woman were arrested earlier on the same day in Hercules, Pretoria.
The 42-year-old woman and her 56-year-old accomplice made their second appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday. A third suspect was released due to lack of evidence.
Four other arrests had been made earlier this year in Plettenberg Bay, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, where police found material showing newborn babies being abused, raped and murdered.
The Fish Hoek man has been charged with contravening the Films and Publications Amendment Act for being “unlawfully in possession of film or publication… that contained images of child pornography… and a person who is described as being under the age of 18 years involved in sexual conduct”.
Cape Times