10 arrested in ALERT sting, including five from Calgary

Extended: ALERT officials talk about ICE arrests ALERT has arrested 10 people in connection with a major bust targeting child sexual exploitation. Officials share details about the sting.

Members of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams have arrested 10 people in connection with a child sexual exploitation sting.

In November 2015, ALERT’s Operation ICE Storm 3 began an investigation into a group of high-level targets who were allegedly sharing and distributing vast collections of child sexual exploitation photos and videos.

Through the investigation, ALERT executed 30 search warrants and seized 285 computers, mobile devices and storage drives representing about 40 TB of data.

Half of those devices have been analyzed and nearly 50,000 illegal photos and videos of children have been identified.

The photos depict incidents of extreme sexual abuse of victims as young as six months old.

None of the victims are believed to be from Alberta and none of the offences are believed to have taken place in the province.

A total of 10 suspects were arrested and each face charges of possession of child pornography, access child pornography and make available child pornography:

ALERT says none of the accused were in positions of public trust or authority.

Sheldon Kennedy, a child abuse advocate, says the amount of images seized during the operation is staggering. "That's a massive number. I think when we look at today's society there is a disconnect when we think of human trafficking, child exploitation and child sexual abuse. The reality is there is no disconnect."

Kennedy says that the Child Advocacy Centre sees about 120 cases a month, with the majority of those being children between the ages of four and seven.

"The impact is real - it's not just an image," Kennedy said. "We see the people, we see the kids that have been hurt."

Detective Justin Brookes with ALERT says the investigation focused particularly on the sharing of illegal images and videos of children on peer-to-peer networks.

He says authorities needed to focus their assault on the suspects who posed the greatest risk. "ICE Storm 3 targeted those with the largest collections and the most graphic content."

Brookes says investigators deployed a number of techniques to make arrests.

He also gave a warning to anyone who continues with the behaviour. "To the individuals that prey upon our children, it could be your name next on ICE Storm 4, 5 or 6. We are not going anywhere. We will continue to aggressively pursue anyone involved in the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet."

Previous operations arrested 10 suspects in April 2014 and eight in September 2015.