by Bob Couttie
In a joint investigation conducted by the UK’s National Crime Agency, NCA, the Australian Federal Police, AFP, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, international law enforcement teams have busted a paedophile ring that offered its perverted patrons live children being abused via webcam.
Called Operation Endeavour, the investigation which began in 2012, has so far resulted in:
- 29 international arrests.
- 11 were part of the facilitation group in the Philippines.
- 12 countries were involved in the arrest of individuals who had been paying for the live abuse of children.
- 15 children in the Philippines, ages 6 to 15, were identified and safeguarded from further sexual abuse.
- Over £37,500 has been identified as revenue collected by the perpetrators for the live abuse of the children on the customer network.
The paedophilia ring arranged for children to be sexually abused live on webcam in exchange for payment. Some of the facilitators were members of the children’s own families.
Within the UK there have been 17 arrests which resulted in five convictions, nine ongoing investigations, one investigation that required no further action, and two investigations in which the perpetrators are deceased. The UK customer base had paid over £5,351 to the crime group.
Thomas Owen and Timothy Ford, Sex Offenders
The investigation began after Northamptonshire Police carried out a routine visit at the home of registered sex offender Timothy Ford and found a number of indecent videos on computers at the property. The force then contacted CEOP and, after working together, a number of ‘customers’ and associates were identified and a global law enforcement investigation commenced.
According to the BBC, Ford discussed with another man setting up what they termed “pedopals vacations”.
He talked about buying an internet cafe in the Philippines and renting out rooms by the hour. Ford wrote to his “pal”, “to us it’s a bit of a game, but to them it’s the difference between having a meal and not having a meal”.
In 2012, ongoing analysis of the digital media associated with the investigation led to the identification of additional suspects and numerous children in the Philippines who were believed to have been sexually exploited. In August of that year, CEOP contacted ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in Manila, the Australia Federal Police and the International Justice Mission (a non-governmental organisation) to request support for the investigation. Together, the agencies presented the case to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for possible enforcement action and between August and October of 2012, the various agencies worked in unison to identify the offenders and victims in the Philippines.
In October 2012, three search warrants were executed and with the assistance of CEOP, ICE and the AFP, the Philippine National Police arrested 11 Filipino nationals and rescued 15 victims. All of the victims rescued were placed in the custody of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Michael Eller Sex Offender
In addition to Operation Endeavour, three other separate investigations into the live streaming of child sexual abuse are currently ongoing. 733 suspects have been identified. 139 of the targets are in the UK and 594 are overseas. One of the targets, Michael Eller, has been convicted and sentenced to serve 14 years in prison. One of the ongoing investigations is being led by the National Crime Agency’s CEOP command and two involve UK police forces.
One of the UK ‘customers’ already convicted under Operation Endeavour is Timothy Ford, who was sentenced in March 2013 to eight and a half years in prison. Ford was paying to watch the live abuse of children and planned on moving to the Philippines to set up an internet café. Investigations into his activities and the wider customer network he was associated with identified other suspects including Thomas Owen who was sentenced in July 2013 to seven years in prison.
Owen was in possession of nearly four million indecent images of children when he was arrested. Evidence showed Ford and Owen discussing online how they could travel to the Philippines to carry out contact abuse of the children. In one chat log Ford, who uses a wheelchair, suggested that Owen could act as his caregiver so that they could travel to the Philippines together in an attempt to avoid detection.
The use of web cams to stream the live abuse of children, particularly from the developing world, is a significant and emerging threat according to the NCA’s CEOP command. Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high speed internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas customer base has led to organised crime groups exploiting children for financial gain.
Andy Baker, Deputy Director of the NCA’s CEOP command said:
“This investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who believed paying for children to be abused to order was something they could get away with. Being thousands of miles away makes no difference to their guilt. In my mind they are just as responsible for the abuse of these children as the contact abusers overseas.
“Protecting the victims of abuse is our priority and that means attacking every link in the chain, from dismantling the organised groups who are motivated by profit through to targeting their customers.
“This kind of end-to-end operation is only possible when law enforcement agencies work together. The NCA has valuable international partners, including the Philippine National Police and the International Justice Mission (IJM), to not only share information and intelligence, but ensure abused and exploited children are identified and safeguarded from harm”.
The AFP’s Assistant Commissioner Tim Morris says he is committed to taking all necessary action to protect children in Australia and internationally from sexual exploitation.
“Every day, AFP officers work with state and international counterparts to combat child sexual exploitation and to bring offenders to justice”.
“The use of online media to drive these types crimes is a sinister development. To target the most vulnerable members of the community in this way cannot be tolerated in any society.
“It’s abhorrent that these crimes occur and it is our duty as police and the wider community to ensure that every possible measure is taken to identify and assist the victims and to identify and take action against the perpetrators”.
ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Executive Associate Director James Dinkins says: “Thanks to this joint operation, children have been rescued from a living nightmare.
“The group responsible for these heinous crimes mistakenly believed that they could use technology to avoid detection, but they were wrong. We will continue to work tirelessly with our international law enforcement partners across jurisdictions and national boundaries to protect children anywhere in the world and bring criminals to justice regardless of where they live.”