Australia. Police bust 'horrific' child sex abuse ring. A global child exploitation sting triggered by a US Department of Homeland Security investigation has rescued four Australian children as young as two months old who were used to produce and ­exchange child rape videos and images through online pedophile networks around the world. In one of the largest joint operations in the country — led by the Australian Federal Police and spread across five states — 16 ­people have been charged with 738 child exploitation and sexual abuse ­offences following a two-year ­investigation into the online ­exchange of child abuse material. The Australian understands that the four children were aged between two months and eight years and are believed to be ­related to those who had sexually abused them and then exchanged the graphic images through highly encrypted web forums. While the vast majority of live-streaming of child sexual exploitation originates in known hotspots including The Philippines, the latest case reveals ­material is also being generated in Australia and channelled through exchange networks via the dark web. "This type of offending has no borders,” Mr Kershaw told The Australian. He said the depth of depravity would be hard for most people to comprehend. “It is very hard to explain to a society, to people who don’t see the images … these involve images like you’ve never seen before,” he said. “If I had my way I’d set the dark web on fire.” Homeland Security officers in Phoenix, Arizona, had uncovered activity in Australia and channelled the intelligence to the AFP through the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, which was set up in 2018 as part of global investigations into the rise in dark web child exploitation. At a Press Club address earlier this year, Mr Kershaw said that while 10 years ago there would have been 300 referrals a year for online child exploitation activity, that figure had now ballooned to almost 20,000. “In the US, it’s in the millions,” he said. “And understand that each referral is not a single file — it could be thousands, millions of videos and pictures of children being sexually abused. We are seeing more videos, younger children, and more violence. We are seeing the rape and torture of our children. All for ­sexual gratification.” https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/police-bust-horrific-child-sex-abuse-ring-spread-across-five-states/news-story/0a6932c8799d2f8bdf73930509cd503d