- Men are from Victoria
- 65,000 unique child abuse images and videos found
- Do you know more? Email maisy.rae@dailymail.com.au
Twenty six Victorian men have been charged with over 1,000 child abuse-related offences after a covert police operation uncovered a secret online child exploitation group.
The year-long joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police uncovered the men had been using an encrypted messaging application to share both abhorrent text and image-based material, and source children to sexually abuse.
Police say the online group was shut down with the 26 alleged members charged with more than 1,000 offences, including the possession, access, transmission, solicitation, and production of child abuse material.
Many of the men charged have now been convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment, while others remain before the courts.
Police said the members shared collections of child abuse material and child sexual abuse fantasies in the mistaken belief the app’s encryption would shield them from detection.
This included images and videos depicting the sexual abuse, torture and murder of infants and young children, as well as bestiality.
No newly generated material involving Australian children was identified during the course of the investigation.
AFP Inspector Scott Amjah said he was stunned by the ‘volume and depravity’ of the material
26 men from Victoria have been charged with over 1,000 child abuse-related offences
A 46-year-old Melbourne man was among those caught and was later charged with creating and administering a group on the encrypted messaging application for the sharing of child abuse material.
He was sentenced to over 12 years in jail by the Melbourne County Court in September 2024.
A Central Victorian man was charged with more than 250 offences relating to transmitting, accessing, producing and soliciting child abuse material through various individuals he met in the group.
He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in December 2025.
It’s understood the majority of the men were not previously known to police.
The investigation resulted in 31 search warrants across Victoria and 100 electronic devices seized.
Horrifyingly, investigators confirmed around 65,000 unique child abuse images and videos were identified including more than 300 hours of child abuse videos – the equivalent of about 175 feature films.
Nineteen referrals were made to domestic and international law enforcement agencies, which resulted in the arrest of nine further alleged offenders by NSW Police Force.
AFP and Victoria Police Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team investigators executed 31 search warrants across Victoria
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Scott Amjah said he was stunned by the ‘volume and depravity’ of the material his team uncovered during the investigation.
‘[It] will stay with all of us,’ he said. ‘I think members of the public would be absolutely horrified by the content of the material that is circulated online these days.
It marks one of the most significant online child abuse investigations in Australia.
AFP Detective Superintendent Bernard Geason said the child abuse material shared in the secret online chat group was so abhorrent and extreme it had rattled long-serving child protection investigators.
‘I am extremely proud of the persistence of the investigators involved in this extremely distressing investigation. I would like to thank them for their unwavering dedication to identifying the alleged offenders and stopping further abuse. This is a hard reminder of how pervasive this crime can be,’ Det Supt Geason said.
‘Each of the men charged during this investigation likely thought they were cloaked and hidden behind layers of encryption. Let this be a reminder – law enforcement is everywhere.’
