Operation FEVER Results In Searches By Gardaí Targeting Child Sexual Abuse.

• In all some nine locations have been searched by Gardaí and 18 devices seized as evidence, with further arrests expected to be made soon.

Gardaí are understood to have carried out searches at locations across the island of Ireland and seized 18 devices as part of an international operation targeting the sharing and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

These nine searches were co-ordinated by the Online Child Exploitation Unit within the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and were conducted by gardai attached to Divisional Protective Services Units, with a number of arrests now expected to be made within the immediate future.

Operation FEVER, led by the Polish National Police in conjunction with Europol’s Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (JCAT) and 11 other member states; has led to 166 arrests to-date, across the continent of Europe, of which 111 of those individuals arrested, known have shared or distributed child sexual abuse material.

Those arrested have also been identified as having produced paedophile films and images; run paedophile online forums, and are suspected of having physically abused children.

European police services with the support of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the National Crime Agency (NCA); the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), have carried out more than 770 searches across Europe, seizing in excess of 594,000 files contained on more than 6,000 illegal digital media platforms.