Europol wants help to solve child sexual abuse cold cases

A total of 18 children have been tentatively identified and two offenders apprehended as a result of the 10th edition of Europol’s Victim Identification Taskforce (VIDTF). Nine of these young victims have already been rescued by the competent authorities, with investigations ongoing to safeguard the others.

The VIDTF is a Europol initiative which this year gathered specialists from 26 countries and partner agencies to identify victims and offenders depicted in child sexual abuse material.

Between 25 October and 5 November 2021, these experts combed through some 580 sets of images and video files depicting unknown victims of child sexual abuse, some as young as a few days old. They were supported by Europol specialists and intelligence analysts in the field of combating the sexual exploitation of children.
In addition to the 18 children identified, the likely country of production has been located in 211 instances and intelligence packages sent by Europol to the relevant countries for investigation.

Officers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, the United States, Europol and INTERPOL took part in the 10th VIDTF.

www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/global-europol-taskforce-identifies-18-child-victims-of-sexual-abuse