A total of 98 individuals have been apprehended in connection with child sex abuse, and 13 children have been rescued from harm, according to US and Australian authorities’ announcement on Tuesday.
This action comes more than two years after two FBI agents were tragically killed during their investigation of an alleged international pedophile ring.
During a joint news conference on Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed that the operation resulted in 79 arrests, 65 indictments, and 43 convictions in the US, while 19 men were arrested in Australia.
In 2021, two FBI agents lost their lives while conducting a search warrant for a computer programmer suspected of possessing child abuse material, as previously reported by CNN.
These agents were deeply involved in investigating the purported child abuse network.
Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider described the alleged child abuse network as a “peer-to-peer network” with “some offenders committing offenses for over 10 years.”
She noted that “some of the children were known to the men who were arrested,” but she declined to provide further details.
