Bravo to the officers tracking child pornographers

It is horrifying to realise that South Africa is becoming a place where paedophiles and child pornographers think they can go about their dirty business unhindered.

A recent joint operation between South African and American cyberdetectives, and child protection officers, helped smash another international child pornography ring with connections in SA.

The four-day operation, code-named “Moonlight”, was conducted by SA Police Service detectives and the US department of homeland security. It led to the arrest of five people, as well as the confiscation of computers, flash drives, tablets and cellphones which were being used to transmit child porn across the globe.

The bust was the latest in a number over the past seven years, carried out by the joint task forces. The arrests point to the fact that South Africa is a significant player in the global network, perhaps because the perpetrators believe they are far from prying eyes.

In cyberspace, though, there are no borders … and when forces and resources are combined, there really is no place to hide for these evil people.

The US Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection believes America is the source of more than 50% of global child porn … and it is clear people in SA have been contributing to that business.

It is gratifying that SA can still collaborate with a powerful country like the US to combat something which is an international scourge. This sort of liaison is vital for SA’s national security and it should never be held hostage to the political whims of the day, either in Pretoria or Washington.

SA experts should also welcome the opportunity to get up to speed with the latest developments in electronic crime detection.

The sad thing is that these people are all undercover, or low key, because they should be honoured.

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