The two-years-long operation Narsil targeted both website administrators as well as their financing mechanisms used to conduct online advertising campaigns.
INTERPOL member countries identified the perpetrators through a shared database, so so-called Worst of List (IWOL) which led to the identification and arrest of suspects.
INTERPOL’s "Worst of" list, created in 2010, is a compilation of domains that distribute the most extreme forms of child abuse material worldwide and is available to national police agencies.
It’s content features "real" children who appear to be younger than 13 and depicts severe abuse.
“Every time a person clicks on these images, they are effectively entering a crime scene,” said INTERPOL Secretary General, Jürgen Stock. “Identifying and removing these websites reduces the availability and potential normalization of online child abuse material, and, most importantly, reduces the re-victimization of the children abused,” he explained.
Among the arrested were a brother and sister who were found in Argentina through IWOL. So was a 34-year-old man who was operating an online forum that facilitated the sharing of child sexual abuse materials. Investigators are still searching for the forum users.
In Russia, two citizens were arrested for the production and online circulation of materials depicting the sexual violation of minors. The authorities searched their homes and seized computer equipment with specialized software for creating and managing websites, as well as removable hard drives containing child sexual abuse material.
In another case, Thai police arrested a 45-year-old on charges of possessing and disseminating child sexual abuse material over the internet. Police found a significant amount of such illicit content at his residence.
Interpol's findings highlight alarming trends in child sexual abuse cases.
Younger victims experience more severe abuse, with 84% of the images containing explicit sexual activity. Over 60% of unidentified victims are prepubescent, including infants and toddlers, and 65% of them are girls. Severe abuse images often involve boys, and 92% of visible offenders are male.
According to the Internet Watch Foundation, sexual abuse imagery of primary school children has gotten 1,000 % worse since lockdown.
Operation Narsil marks one of the first INTERPOL operations focused on apprehending those profiting from advertising revenues generated by child sexual abuse content. The agency has been monitoring and seizing websites disseminating child sexual abuse imagery for more than 13 years, with over 20,000 domains seized in collaboration with law enforcement partners worldwide.
The successful operation involved law enforcement efforts in numerous countries, including Austria, Belarus, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, among others.
The operation's name, Narsil, is inspired by a longsword that symbolizes the fight against all evil, reflecting the mission's determination to combat online child abuse.
