An international police effort to break up a vast child pornography ring has included the arrest of an Icelander who, it turns out, has been arrested for possessing child pornography before.
The sting, conducted by Europol and called “Operation Rescue” (not to be confused with the American anti-abortion rights group of the same name) spanned North America, Europe and Australia. In all, 184 arrests were made and 230 children were freed from sex slavery.
Vísir reports that among those arrested was a young Icelandic man from the capital area. Police found photographs of child pornography on his computer, as well as evidence that he had taken part in an online chat dedicated to sexual violence against children.
It has come to light that the man was sentenced in 2006 for similar charges, and sought therapy. Björgvin Björgvinsson, the head of the sex crimes division of the Reykjavík police department, said that it was the opinion of everyone in his command that the supervision of those convicted of sex crimes against children needed to be increased.
Björgvin also said that “we were very glad to take part in this investigation, or ‘rescue’ as the investigation was called”. He added that while it appears no Icelandic children had been abused, “it would be irresponsible to believe that such a case will never come up here.”
The investigation is still ongoing, as Europol reports about another 700 individuals are still suspected of producing, distributing or possessing child pornography. Charges against them are still pending.
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