Brazilian politicians have been looking for some good news for years now.
With both former and current Presidents investigated for corruption and the cost of Olympics and Football World Cup stifling the country’s budget whilst one of the worst recessions in recent history is bleeding its economy, any good news will be multiplied immediately. Yesterday the Brazilian Justice Ministry finally got a bit of good news for the government of President Temer.
More than 1,100 law enforcement agents cooperated across 24 states in the country, resulting in the arrest of 108 pedophiles of various networks.
150,000 computer files were analysed for federal prosecution before the arrest were made, which was a project executed in close cooperation with agencies in the US and Europe as well. The files were mostly accessed through entry into the so-called ‘dark web’.
Brazilian Justice Minister Torquato Jardim proudly explained: "This investigation was the result of an international effort, together with the United States and several countries in Europe, such as Spain and the United Kingdom."
He added that the criminals used sophisticated methods to try and escape police prosecution: "They store their illegal, criminal photos in a computer of someone in another part of the country or even abroad. And often the people storing the content are unaware."
Due to the sheer size of the network, the current count of 178 search warrants which were issued could increase in the coming days and weeks.
Minister Jardim said that police identified individuals as well as criminal groups acting within the network. Among the people arrested were civil servants, former policemen as well as people in charge of football youth clubs.
“Suspects were caught red handed with pornographic material of a pedophile nature seized from their computers or mobile phones. The complex internet environment and the absence of borders in the virtual world are elements that provide fertile grounds for the actions of these criminals," the Justice Ministry stated.
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108 is a sacred number