Italy busts child abuse network after undercover probe

Investigators have so far obtained about 283GB of illegal material, including more than 22,000 videos and 34,000 images of children.

ROME – Italian police have arrested 17 people in an investigation into an Italy-based international network that distributed child sexual abuse material online, Rome prosecutors said on Sept 17.

An undercover Italian officer gained the trust of the group’s administrators, becoming a co-administrator and gaining access to its private channels.

“This organisation was structured like a multinational company,” said Rome chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi.

The network was run by four Italians and a Swiss national.

Investigators have so far obtained about 283GB of illegal material, including more than 22,000 videos and 34,000 images of children as young as four.

The operation, named Fly Trap, led to a Telegram community called New Saga, which had more than 1,000 users worldwide and required payments in cryptocurrency.

Users seeking access had to pay small amounts described as “donations” of between US$3 (S$3.83) and US$9, or provide new material.

The Italian authorities identified 996 accounts linked to 98 countries and shared the information with foreign authorities, leading to a number of arrests.

The administrators, aged between 22 and 28, used a chat called La Sala dei Re (“Hall of Kings”) for internal communications.

Their roles ranged from managing groups and servers to moderating content and creating bots used to keep the community active when Telegram shut down a chat.

The investigation began in 2024 after a tip-off from the US Homeland Security Investigations and is ongoing. AFP