Hundreds of thousands of child porn images, videos discovered in ALERT investigation, 5 Calgarians charged

Five Calgarians are among seven Albertans charged in an Alberta Law Enforcement Teams (ALERT) operation which uncovered alleged child sexual exploitation.

ALERT’S Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit made the arrests between June and August in Calgary, Lethbridge, and Red Deer.

Operation ICE Storm was launched in June and focused on high-level targets that were sharing and distributing vast collections of child sexual exploitation materials via peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

ALERT explains the operation prioritized suspects with the largest collections and some of the most graphic content.

These investigations led to the seizure of more than 40 computers and electronic devices. On those devices, forensic investigators discovered more than 405,000 images and 11,000 videos of child sexual abuse material.

“We know that every day thousands of child sexual abuse material is being downloaded, viewed and shared in communities big and small across Alberta, and an operation like this highlights the amount of data our unit needs to comb through. One of the devices seized held more than 300,000 images,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Auger, ALERT ICE.

At this point, investigators don’t believe any of the victims are from Alberta, or that any hands-on offences have taken place.

Anyone with information about this investigation, or any child exploitation offence, is encouraged to contact their local police or cybertip.ca

Each of the seven suspects face charges of possession of child pornography, access child pornography, and make available child pornography:

ICE Storm was made possible with the help of several police agencies, including the Calgary Police Service, Lethbridge Police Service, and Red Deer RCMP.