Nunavut RCMP collaborate in big child porn bust

The RCMP’s Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has arrested 16 people following an operation called Operation Snapshot, which targeted alleged online child predators.

As part of Operation Snapshot, a 14-year-old child was rescued, the RCMP said Oct. 17.

And 16 people now face 30 charges that include indecent exposure, invitation to sexual touching, accessing child pornography, possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, making child pornography, internet luring, and breach of court order.

More than 100 computers and hard drives were seized along with hundreds of thousands of images in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

None of those arrested to date come from Nunavut, although members of Nunavut’s RCMP division participated in the investigation.

Operation Snapshot, which began in June, aimed to identify, and then charge, internet users who possess and distribute child abuse images on file sharing networks.

The Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, which holds the national mandate for coordinating these investigations, worked with police in the prairie region, the NWT and Nunavut.

“I am very proud of the professionalism and quality of service of the men and women on this team,” said RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.

“These types of investigations are very demanding and stressful for the officers involved, but through this operation we are sending a clear message to individuals who are engaged in this exploitive and destructive behaviour: we will find you and prosecute you.”