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Dozens of men arrested, children rescued in Australia sting operation

Australian Federal Police arrest a suspect as part of Operation Molto, which they said apprehended at least 44 suspected child abusers and found a number of child victims who were placed into safety. Photo courtesy Australian Federal Police/Facebook
Australian Federal Police arrest a suspect as part of Operation Molto, which they said apprehended at least 44 suspected child abusers and found a number of child victims who were placed into safety. Photo courtesy Australian Federal Police/Facebook

Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Australian police have arrested nearly 50 people and rescued more than a dozen children as part of a wide-ranging abuse investigation, officials said Friday.

Federal Police said 44 men were arrested on child abuse charges, and at least 16 child victims were found and placed in safety.

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The men face more than 300 criminal charges, including possession of child exploitation material.

Police said the operation "unearthed a network of offenders using a cloud storage platform to access and share abhorrent child abuse material abuse online."

"The content being accessed and shared is classified as some of the most abhorrent ever produced," federal police said in a statement.

Police said the Australian Center to Counter Child Exploitation aided in the investigation with state and territory police.

"While this a great result for law enforcement, arresting offenders and putting them before the court is only half the battle," police added. "Identifying victims is a race against time and the [the] victim identification team is relentless in rescuing children from sexual abuse.

"Pixel by pixel, our investigators painstakingly look for clues and never give up."

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