Police have arrested 449 people in raids related to two major local porn networks, with suspects facing charges such as allegedly possessing sexual material of minors and filming women in public restrooms without their knowledge, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
It took a lot of coordination and resources over the past two months for law enforcement authorities to investigate the two forums, Chuangyi Sifang (創意私房) and SCP, operating on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, CIB High-tech Crime Center chief Lin Chien-lung (林建隆) told a news conference in Taipei.
The investigation is ongoing, and the 449 suspects are facing charges related to breaches of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), money laundering and engaging in organized crime, Lin said.
Photo: CNA
Membership fees for the two networks were paid in cryptocurrency and network tokens, with transactions handled by overseas accounts and domains, making it more difficult to shut them down, he said.
Law enforcement authorities initially focused on Chuangyi Sifang following the indictment of entertainer and television host Mickey Huang (黃子佼) in May for allegedly possessing sexually explicit videos involving minors and investigators. Huang had allegedly been a paid member of the network since 2014, the Taichung Prosecutors’ Office said.
Taichung prosecutors led the investigation and after raids started in June they found out it was the nation’s largest platform for exchanging illegal pornography, including a large amount of child pornography, it said.
Police arrested a man surnamed Chang (張), who allegedly managed Chuangyi Sifang forum in Taiwan on behalf of the owner, a man known as Lao Ma (老馬), thought to be a Chinese citizen based in China, it said.
Police also arrested Chang’s assistants, information technology (IT) technicians who edited videos and some customers, while confiscating New Taiwan dollars, Hong Kong dollars and yuan totaling about NT$1 million (US$30,454) as that was alleged to have come from selling illegal pornography, it said.
In another wave of raids that started early last month, prosecutors targeted the SCP forum and the OAT site affiliated with it, which allegedly secretly recorded women in restrooms at restaurants, bars and public places, Lin said.
Further raids took place on July 16 and 17, and 350 officers from 64 police precincts across 17 administrative regions participated and searched more than 250 locations, he said.
Authorities confiscated computers, mobile phones, financial records and cash, he said.
The majority of the suspects are allegedly paid members of the networks, Lin said, adding that they are suspected of viewing and trading illegal pornography, as well as uploading content.
The suspects include some teachers, IT professionals and those working in high tech sectors, military personnel and others, he added.
Although the networks were registered overseas, they operated in and were managed from Taiwan, prosecutors said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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