A 35-year-old Auckland man has been jailed for four years and 10 months for his involvement in a global child sexual abuse network, after a Customs uncovered thousands of graphic files on his phone during an airport search.
The man was sentenced Friday in the Manukau District Court and has been placed on the child sex offender register.
Customs intercepted the man in August 2024 when he arrived at Auckland International Airport from overseas. A routine phone check revealed images and videos depicting extreme sexual abuse of children, leading to his immediate arrest for importing objectionable publications.
A forensic examination later revealed the man has been an active member of an encrypted online group dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material. The network included offenders in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Denmark, with three overseas arrests linked to the case.
Customs said the man used multiple chat apps to distribute material and engage in discussions about the sexual abuse of children, drug use, and tactics to avoid detection. He also participated in and recorded a livestream where 14 offenders shared child sexual abuse videos in real time.
He was prosecuted on charges for the import, export, distribution, possession and making of objectionable material, and participation in an organised criminal group.
In total, the man was found to have downloaded 1835 objectionable publications, uploaded 1372 objectionable publications; distributed 117 objectionable publications and made one objectionable publication.
Chief Customs Officer of the child exploitation operations team Simon Peterson said the case exposed the scale and harm of international child abuse networks.
“This man was an active member of a particularly sinister encrypted group whose sole purpose was to celebrate the sexual abuse of children,” he said.
“Child sexual abuse material is not just a commodity. Its existence and trade is a crime against children. These global networks fuel ongoing suffering for victims and create dangerous demand for more.”
