A 32-year-old Mitchells Plain man, was one of three men arrested in connection with distribution and possession of child pornography.
“This brings to total the number of Child Online Sexual Predators that have been arrested since November to seven,” said national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
“These arrests form part of an international operation to trace manufacturers, users, and distributors of child pornography.”
Mathe said the trio were arrested in a joint operation by the SA Police Service (SAPS) Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) unit and the American Homeland Security department.
The three suspects were arrested in Worcester, Kraaifontein and Mitchells Plain.
Police said a 53-year-old man was arrested on January 17 in Worchester.
“He has so far been found with 95,000 images and 6,000 videos of child pornography. He faces a charge of accessing, distributing and possession of child pornography,” Mathe said.
The second man, aged 40, was arrested the following day in Kraaifontein.
Police said it is alleged that he was found with more than 149,000 pictures of child pornography as well as more than 5,000 videos.
“He was found in possession of two unlicensed firearms and various calibre of ammunition, as well as nine snakes of which three did not have a permit,” said Mathe.
“He is facing charges of possession of illegal firearms and ammunition, possession, distribution and accessing of child pornography.”
The 32-year-old Mitchells Plain man who was arrested on Friday was alleged to be chatting to and luring underage girls on a chat group where nude pictures where exchanged.
“All suspects appeared before various courts such as Worcester, Kraaifontein and Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court where their cases were postponed for further investigation,” Mathe said.
The other four were arrested in November last year. Three were arrested in Gauteng and one in KwaZulu-Natal.
She said their cases were ongoing.
Mathe urged parents to monitor their children’s devices and social media accounts.
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