Federal Police detectives who took part in an international task force operation in the United States have returned with new leads which could help to solve Belgian cases.
Several Belgian detectives took part in Operation Renewed Hope, organised by Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the US Department of Homeland Security. They worked alongside investigators from the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), Europol and other police forces from around the world to identify victims and perpetrators of child abuse.
They spent three weeks analysing photos and videos of child abuse in Washington D. C. to find both victims and perpetrators and their locations. This produced 311 potential identifications and has already resulted in a number of arrests made in the United States and Canada.
"The participating detectives brought material from files they had been working on in the hope that the investigation could be reinvigorated thanks to the knowledge of the other participants," Belgium's Federal Police reported.
Based on details in the images and videos, such as landscapes or the languages spoken, they tried to locate the photos and videos and track down the victims and perpetrators. "Thanks to the combined expertise of investigators from some 14 different countries, victims, perpetrators and locations could potentially be identified."
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All information gathered will now be sent to the countries concerned via Interpol so that further investigation can be carried out within these countries.
In Belgium, too, a number of new leads will be further investigated. "In the coming weeks and months, more victims may be rescued from abuse thanks to this international cooperation," the Federal Police concluded.
