13 Children Rescued From Global Online Sex Abuse Ring After 2 FBI Agents Murdered

A general view of the Australian Federal Police badge during a press conference in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 30, 2014. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Some 13 Australian children have been rescued after police dismantled a “sophisticated” online child abuse network in an international investigation that began after the murders of two FBI agents in 2021.

The children have been removed from harm, some of whom having been directly abused, while others were removed as a child safety precaution, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) stated on Tuesday.

Police also arrested 19 men across the states of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory.

The AFP said the alleged Australian offenders were aged between 32 and 81 years old. Two of them have been sentenced, while the others are awaiting trial.

Most of the alleged Australian offenders held jobs requiring a “high degree” of ICT expertise, and some of them allegedly produced their own child abuse material to share with other network members, the AFP said.

AFP Commander Helen Schneider said criminals use encryption and other means to share child abuse material on the dark web.

They allegedly used software to anonymously share files, chat on message boards, and access websites within the network.

“Viewing, distributing or producing child abuse material is a horrific crime, and the lengths that these alleged offenders went to in order to avoid detection makes them especially dangerous—the longer they avoid detection, the longer they can perpetuate the cycle of abuse,” Ms. Schneider said in a statement.

“The success of Operation Bakis demonstrates the importance of partnerships for law enforcement, at a national level here in Australia, but also at an international level,” she added.

98 Arrested in Total

Operation Bakisa began in 2022 when the FBI provided the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation with intelligence about Australian members of a peer-to-peer network allegedly sharing child abuse material on the dark web.

The joint investigation followed the murders of two FBI special agents—Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger—who were shot dead by an offender while carrying out a search warrant in a Florida home in 2021.

Laura Schwartzenberger (L) and FBI agent Daniel Alfin (R) in an undated photo. (FBi via AP)

The shooter was identified as David Lee Huber, a 55-year-old IT worker who lived alone and is also a father of two children. Mr. Huber monitored the FBI agents using a doorbell camera and opened fire through a closed door.

Three other agents were injured in the attack. The offender subsequently shot and killed himself, according to multiple reports.

The AFP also stated that the related FBI investigation has led to 79 people being arrested for their alleged involvement in the network.

“Everything you do online leaves a trace. To those predators who seek to exploit children online, remember the next person you engage with online could be a police officer,” Queensland Police Service Child Abuse and Sexual Crime Group Acting Detective Superintendent Glen Donaldson stated.