A TEAM of specialised police investigators looking into online sexual exploitation of minors in South Africa arrested a Durban man yesterday for possession and distribution of child pornography images.
According to police spokesman, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, members of the Gauteng based SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offence Unit, which operates nationally, nabbed the 29 year old suspect in Berea.
“The suspect’s alleged sexual tendencies first came to the surface when the police here received a tip-off from their United States’ counterparts to the effect that a male suspect from somewhere in South Africa was one of the three males communicating and soliciting sexually explicit images from a 13-year-old girl in Virginia, in the United States,” explained Naidoo.
The exchange between the suspect and the minor was being done through a mobile social media application called “KIK.”
When the team visited and searched the suspect’s residence at a block of flats, they found and seized six hard drives, six cellular phones, a USB, 22 DVD’s and CDs and a 3G card.
Naidoo said the suspect has already appeared at the Durban Magistrate’s Court and is currently out on bail. His case has been postponed to 4 February 2016.
Through a close working relationship with their overseas counterparts, and as part of the ongoing 'Operation Cloud 9', the team has been arresting individuals from various parts of South Africa for possession and distribution of child pornography.
