Cruise ship employee pleads not guilty to child porn charges
Akshay Somaroo arrested in September ship was in Iqaluit port
Akshay Somaroo enters the courthouse in Iqaluit on Sept. 11 after being charged with possession of child pornography. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Cruise ship employee Akshay Somaroo pleaded not guilty Tuesday in an Iqaluit courtroom to charges of possessing and importing child pornography.
Somaroo, 31, a Mauritian national, was arrested aboard a ship in Frobisher Bay on Sept. 1 in a joint operation carried out by the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency with support from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
One photograph of an underaged male was allegedly found by border services agency officers during a routine customs examination of the World Explorer ship after it arrived in Frobisher Bay, according to court documents.
No victims were identified.
Somaroo remains in custody and is scheduled to return to court Dec. 10.
How many adults across Nunavut currently have charges before the courts for sexual offences against minors? The unofficial answer is more than two dozen. That is, at minimum, 24 potential child victims. So why are you not reporting on those cases?