Rise in child pornography downloads under serious investigation

Police have launched a serious investigation following a complaint filed by international monitoring agencies regarding the prevailing issue of downloading child pornography.

In a press conference held in Iskandharu Koshi today, Acting Head of Crime Against Children, Chief Inspector of Police Ahmed Sofwath Rauf said that the issue of downloading child pornography in the Maldives was reported to the police last year by foreign monitors of such incidents.

The first case was investigated and sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office in October last year for prosecution of a 32-year-old man. However, the status of the case remains unclear as of now.

Sofwath said a second case of downloading child pornography is currently under investigation.

"The issue of child pornography being downloaded by Maldivian IDs is under serious investigation. To increase the capacity of such investigations, police have been trained in the area," he said.

Sofwath said that the number of cases of child abuse is increasing day by day, and since such cases related to children are very sensitive, they request individuals to share any information with the police at the earliest opportunity.

During the investigation, child pornography of children between the ages of 2-18 has been discovered on the suspect's devices.

Sofwath said that a policy to be followed during investigations of child exploitation has been drafted in collaboration with the Prosecutor General's Office, which is currently being finalized. Therefore, similar cases involving children will be thoroughly investigated, and action will be taken, he said.

In addition to this, Sofwath also noted an increase in the number of blackmail cases using photographs and videos taken while the victims were in intimate relations.

There has been a rise in incidents of people being forcibly detained, raped, and exploited to create pornographic content for blackmail, he said.

Therefore, Sofwath added that parents monitoring children's activity on their devices is important. Police have said that while playing online games, individuals pay foreign currency to obtain nudes of children.

Sofwath said that in cases pertaining to children, there are delays in obtaining information or there are attempts to conceal information, while the police are trying to save the children from falling victim to such crimes. At the same time, he noted that efforts were being made to reintegrate them into society through the Child Justice Act.