Pretoria : 9 December 2015 – A team of specialised police investigators looking into online sexual exploitation of minors in South Africa has yesterday arrested a Durban man for possession and distribution of child pornography images.
Members of the South African Police Service’s Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offence Unit, based in Gauteng but operating nationally, nabbed the 29 year old suspect in Berea, Durban.
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 for sexually explicit images from a 13-year-old girl in Virginia, in the United States. The exchange between the suspect and the minor was being done through a mobile application called “KIK”.
When the team visited and searched the suspect’s residence at a block of flats, they found and sized six hard drives, six cellular phones, a USB, 22 DVD’s and CDs and a 3g card.
The suspect has already appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court and he 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.
As recently as last week, a 39-year-old man, Derrick Hunter from Midrand, Johannesburg, pleaded guilty for possession and distribution of child porn in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court and is awaiting sentencing in that regard. This suspect was arrested in March this year.
