Dozens arrested over suspected child sex abuse following murder of two Miami FBI agents
MIAMI - More than two years after two Miami FBI agents were killed while investigating an alleged international child sex abuse ring nearly 100 arrests have been made.
On Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) said 79 arrests, 65 indictments, and 43 convictions in the US were carried out as a result of the joint operation, while 19 men were arrested in Australia.
A total of 98 people have been arrested in connection with child sex abuse, and 13 children rescued, since 2021 shooting.
On February 2, 2021, Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger died in a shootout at a Sunrise apartment complex while executing a federal search warrant for a computer programmer suspected of possession of child abuse material.
Alfin and Schwartzenberger were known for their efforts in the field, curbing child abuse with their investigatory work and educating students about the perils of sex crimes.
Three other agents were wounded and the suspect in the shooting died at the scene.
The alleged child abuse ring was a "peer to peer network" with "some offenders committing offenses for over 10 years," said Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider.
"Some of the children were known to the men who were arrested," Schneider added, but refused to comment further.
Australian investigation
The Australian police investigation began in 2022 when the FBI passed on details of Australian members of a peer-to-peer network allegedly sharing child abuse material on the dark web.
"This operation was highly complex," the FBI's legal attaché in Canberra, Nitiana Mann, told reporters Tuesday. "The complexity and anonymity of these platforms means that no agency or country can fight these threats alone."
Most of the Australian alleged offenders had jobs that required advanced IT skills, police said in a statement.
Members of the network allegedly used "software to anonymously share files, chat on message boards and access websites within the network," using encryption and "other methods to avoid law enforcement detection," the statement added.
AFP Commander Schneider said the alleged offenders operated a "sophisticated network."
"Viewing, distributing, and producing child abuse material is a horrific crime, and the lengths that this network went to avoid detection is an indication of just how dangerous they were," she said.
"The longer people like this avoid detection, it means the longer the cycle of abuse continues."
Further arrests could not be ruled out, she added.
More than 300 investigations have opened as a result of the joint operation, Mann said.