Agents of the National Police have arrested 61 people, and are investigating another 17, for possession, production and distribution of child sexual exploitation material. In addition, they have carried out more than a hundred searches in almost all provinces of the national territory.
The complexity of the investigation - in which more than 200 agents from different territorial units have participated - has been due to the large number of people investigated and searches carried out, the numerous judicial authorities involved, and the thousands of files seized.
An engineer, a former soldier and a high school teacher
Among those arrested are a computer engineer, a former professional soldier - who had nine firearms and a large amount of ammunition seized - and a high school teacher who, in addition, had minors in foster care.
According to the National Police, this individual took advantage of any activity to record the minors while they were practicing sexual behaviors or when they were naked and, finally, he was arrested in Las Palmas.
The investigation, whose operational exploitation was carried out at the beginning of June, has been coordinated by the Central Cybercrime Unit together with the Special Prosecutor's Office for Computer Crime. In addition, it has had the participation of more than 200 agents belonging to different territorial units.
More than a hundred searches
As a result of the operation, the agents have carried out more than one hundred searches in most of the provinces of the Spanish geography. As a result of the same, they have seized a large number of electronic devices, including 37 mobile phones, 63 computers (desktop and laptops), 229 hard drives, 58 USB sticks and more than 1,600 different storage devices. They have also investigated 110 people for possession, production and distribution of child pornography, resulting in 61 of them arrested and 17 investigated but not arrested.
The arrests have been made in the provinces of Vizcaya (2), Guipúzcoa (1), Segovia (1), Ávila (1), Soria (1), Zamora (1), Burgos (2), León (1), Valladolid (2), Salamanca (1), Alicante (2), Castellón (2), Navarra (1), Lleida (1), Girona (2), Balearic Islands (1), Melilla (2), La Rioja (1), Cantabria (2), Cáceres (1), Las Palmas (2), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (2), Zaragoza (3), Huesca (2), Asturias (2), Madrid (4), Guadalajara (2), Albacete (1), Ciudad Real (1), Toledo (3), Ourense (1), Lugo (1), A Coruña (2), Seville (2), Málaga (1), Granada (1), Cádiz (2) and Almería (1).
Among those arrested is an individual who used the public wifi connection of a hospitality establishment. The agents managed to identify him, and locate him in Ourense, after observing a pattern of downloads in certain time slots that allowed them to detect a connection in real time and the person who, with a laptop, was making the investigated connections.
Another of those charged, arrested in Castellón, is a computer engineer with advanced technical knowledge and skills. This led him to make a cable installation to share the Internet connection, from which he downloaded and distributed the child sexual exploitation material, with his brother (resident on the upper floor and owner of the line).
On the other hand, the person arrested in the Madrid municipality of Coslada adopted security measures and eliminated the downloaded illicit material; however, as a result of the analysis of the seized devices, the agents proved that he downloaded and distributed child sexual exploitation files. In addition, during the search of his home, they located nine firearms (long, short and war) as well as a large amount of ammunition.
The complexity of the investigation has been due to the large number of people investigated and searches carried out, as well as the judicial authorities involved and the thousands of files seized.
The National Police has enabled the email address denuncias.pornografia.infantil@policia.es so that any citizen who has information about the existence of the dissemination, possession and storage of child pornography can communicate it in a totally anonymous and confidential manner. Likewise, it is recalled the importance of not sharing or storing this type of images of minors, as they would be incurring in the commission of a crime.
