The Ontario Provincial Police say 64 people have been charged in a large-scale child exploitation investigation where 34 child victims were identified.
The investigation, dubbed Project Aquatic, involved 27 police forces across Ontario who identified and arrested several people allegedly making, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material, police said.
OPP Det. Sgt. Tim Brown told reporters there was one instance of luring where a person had engaged with an undercover officer online who allegedly wanted to meet with a child in real life for a sexual purpose.
There was another person who was allegedly in possession of about 21 terabytes of data on multiple devices and hard drives containing child sexual abuse material, Brown said.
“One terabyte can store up to 250,000 photos or 500 hours of video,” Brown said.
“For every device seized, an officer or analyst examines each photo and video, which can take several weeks,” Brown said. “The time spent on each child sexual abuse investigation only grows with the continued increase of storage.”
Of those charged, police said more than 348 charges were laid and 607 electronic devices were seized.
More to come.