Cyber Crime

Operation Narsil – INTERPOL Busts Decade-Old Child Abuse Network

These networks generated revenues from advertising sexually explicit content involving children.

August 3, 2023

4 minute read

KEY FINDINGS

Operation Narsil was launched in 2021 with 27 countries’ collaboration.
Arrests were made in Argentina, Bulgaria, and Russia during the operation.
INTERPOL disrupted finance mechanisms and seized over 20,000 domains.
The Argentinian arrest involves a brother-sister duo running an abuse site.
Interpol’s actions send a strong message to criminals exploiting children.

The rise of profitable platforms that provide access to content depicting the sexual or physical exploitation of minors is an unfortunate reality. However, law enforcement agencies worldwide are actively engaged in efforts to dismantle these networks and bring the perpetrators to justice. Operation Narsil stands as a notable example of such initiatives, successfully busting several child exploitation networks.

Interpol launched Operation Narsil in December 2021 with the primary objective of tracking down criminals involved in operating children’s sexual abuse-related websites. After two years of relentless investigation, in a massive worldwide law enforcement collaboration, agencies achieved a major breakthrough in July 2023, taking down a significant network responsible for distributing child sexual abuse content.

Throughout the operation, the investigators effectively disrupted the finance mechanisms of the website operators, resulting in a severe impact on their advertising campaigns.

According to INTERPOL’s press release, under Operation Narsil, Interpol managed to seize over 20,000 domains in the past 13 years. In total, 27 countries have collaborated in the operation so far.

Decade-Old Abuse Networks

During Operation Narsil, all Interpol member countries collaborated extensively to combat the issue of child exploitation. They actively engaged in sharing intelligence information, identifying suspects, and coordinating arrests of individuals involved in running the websites that facilitated such heinous activities.

Notably, in 2010, Interpol established the Interpol Worst of List (IWOL), which served as a watchlist to monitor websites offering extreme child sexual abuse content. Interpol’s general secretariat headquarters worked in close partnership with law enforcement authorities in all regions, urging them to take action and shut down these harmful websites within their respective countries.

Brother Sister Duo Ran Minor Abuse Site

In Argentina, one of the websites seized during Operation Narsil had been operating for approximately a decade and was discovered to be run by a brother-sister duo based in Argentina.

These siblings were apprehended for their involvement in creating, maintaining, and profiting from a website that featured explicit child sexual abuse material, along with associated advertising campaigns. During the arrests, authorities confiscated 14 electronic devices, credit cards, and cash from the residence of the suspects.

The reason this illicit activity remained undetected for such a long period was due to the complexities of technology that the perpetrators exploited to evade law enforcement. However, the breakthrough came when digital clues from the Interpol Worst of List (IWOL) and intelligence shared by the global police community helped trace and identify the duo’s involvement in this appalling crime.

To bring the criminals to justice, Argentina’s Anti Cyber Crime against Minors’ Victim Identification Office and the Specialised Cybercrime Prosecution Unit (UFECI) collaborated with the Federal Courts in Mendoza Province. This joint effort led to the successful identification and subsequent arrest of the suspects, ensuring that they would face the legal consequences for their heinous actions against children.

In Bulgaria, law enforcement successfully apprehended a 34-year-old male who was operating an online forum dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse content. The arrest aimed to put an end to this disturbing online activity and bring the perpetrator to justice.

In Russia, two individuals aged 24 were arrested for their involvement in the production and distribution of illegal content related to child sexual abuse. During the operation, authorities seized removable hard drives that contained explicit material, as well as various software and equipment that were used to create and maintain websites promoting such illicit content.

In Thailand, a 45-year-old male was arrested for possessing and profiting from child sexual abuse content. This reprehensible act of exploitation was met with decisive action by the authorities, intending to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable children.

The Fight is Far From Over

The arrests indicate the effectiveness of cross-regional police cooperation, said Argentina’s Federal Police head and America’s Interpol executive committee’s delegate, Juan Carlos Hernandez.

Interpol’s secretary general, Jurgen Stock, believes that “identifying and removing these websites” is highly crucial to prevent the “potential normalization” of child abuse material online. It is also important to reduce the re-victimization of abused minors.

“Operation Narsil sends a strong message to the criminals making money from these websites that Interpol and its alliance of police forces in 195 member countries, know where they are, what they are doing, and how to find them,” Stock added.