RCMP promises more arrests in child porn case

Updated Wed. Jan. 16 2008 8:40 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Expect more arrests in Canada as part of a sweeping international investigation into child pornography, says an RCMP officer.

"We have 98 unique email addresses, which we believe are 98 unique individuals, and we are investigating those," Supt. Earla-Kim McColl, who heads Canada's National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre, told Canada AM on Wednesday.

Nine Canadians have been arrested so far. In November, European officials announced 92 arrests in connection with Operation Koala, which began in Australia.

Investigators there came across a child abuse video. "We were very fortunate. Within two weeks, we had identified the victims, and that led us to the videographer, who was providing professional-quality services," McColl said.

That man is an Italian citizen. In February 2007, Canadian law enforcement became involved after 600 email messages out of 50,000 between the Italian and potential customers were identified as originating in this country. At least 2,500 suspects from 19 countries have been identified.

Customers of the website, which was hosted in Ukraine, could buy lingerie for the children to model. For a fee, they could participate in making the videos.

Some of the victims have been identified. Two sisters from Belgium, aged 9 and 11, were abused by their father for a fee. Twenty-one Ukrainian girls, aged nine to 16, have been identified by police.

McColl said no Canadian victims have been identified.

Those arrested in this country to date are located in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, she said.

A man who worked with youth in the Toronto area is also among those arrested. A 40-year-old Edmontonian was found to have a vast cache of other child pornography.

McColl said Tuesday that the RCMP are investigating about a dozen other cases similar to Operation Koala.

There have been much bigger rings. In, 2,000 Canadian customers were linked to a child pornography ring in Texas.

Rosalind Prober of Beyond Borders, a child advocacy group, told Canada AM that pedophiles like to link up with one another, "and that the Internet has provided that linking tool."

McColl said the images seen in Operation Koala aren't among the worst. But Prober said in general, child pornography is getting more explicit and depraved.

"In this case, it was made to order," Prober said. "You had children on the telephone talking to people, ordering up what those children should do," she said.

With files from The Canadian Press