Six arrested in Shropshire as part of national online child abuse operation
Six people from Shropshire have been arrested as part of a national operation that has seen 660 people detained and questioned about sharing indecent images of children online.
As part of the operation three people in Shropshire and three from Telford & Wrekin were arrested.
The UK-wide operation, which was publicly launched this morning, was co-ordinated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and in recent months it has been sending intelligence to forces across England and Wales about suspected paedophiles in their areas that are using the web.
Investigations were launched into each of these individuals and a succession of search warrants was executed at their home addresses. West Mercia Police currently has 16 people on police bail as further work is done to establish if they possessed indecent images of children and if they were sharing them with others via the internet.
Many of those arrested had some form of access to children in and more than 400 children across the UK have been protected from harm, with 31 in the West Mercia and Warwickshire Police area.
The operation was co-ordinated at a regional level with Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police working closely with Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Police. Across the West Midlands region, 74 people were arrested and 44 children protected or safeguarded.
Detective Superintendent Steve Cullen is head of the Protecting Vulnerable People department for Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police and he co-ordinated this West Midlands response.
He said: “This is unprecedented, UK-wide operation that aimed to target those people using the internet to access indecent images of children. We want to protect children who are victims of, or might be at risk of, sexual exploitation.
“Children are victimised not only when they are abused and an image is first taken. They are victimised repeatedly every time that image is viewed.
“This is the first time we have been able to speak about the operation publicly because our priority has been to protect children, identify offenders and secure evidence.
“Over several months we worked closely with the national policing agencies, the other West Midlands forces and bodies such as local Children’s Services and the Worcestershire-based child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
“We have been able to identify victims and ensure they get the proper support and care.”
