Sardinia is also involved in the "Fly Trap" operation against child pornography conducted by the State Police and the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Rome Prosecutor's Office, with the CNCO of the Postal Police.

The investigation, which began in 2024, has led to six precautionary measures, one arrest on suspicion of crime, and the arrest of 10 people in flagrante delicto for possession of a large quantity of child pornography . One of the arrests was made in the Cagliari metropolitan area, while the others involved the provinces of Turin, Milan, Padua, Fermo, Palermo, and Treviso. The arrested person is a 60-year-old man. A 33-year-old man was also charged in the Sardinian capital for being in possession of images and videos of minors.

The investigations led to the identification of a private group on Telegram called “New Saga,” dedicated to the dissemination of child pornography.

By analyzing the cryptocurrency transactions used to access the community, investigators identified one of the administrators, a 24-year-old from Campania, and from there they were able to trace the entire network.

To avoid the risk of surveillance by law enforcement, the group's members "used 'exclusive private channels' to exchange information and organizational matters, one of which was called 'The Hall of Kings,' underscoring the power structure in which the Telegram group administrators believed they were operating."

Furthermore, investigators add, "the investigations have documented in detail the existence of a complex organization composed of several administrators with responsibilities for managing and promoting the various groups created to disseminate child pornography , for providing related services to ensure anonymity and encrypt content, including cloud and virtual servers, for content moderation, and for creating bots—automated programs capable of managing the numerous users—to ensure the continuity of the community even in the event of group closures or account loss. The operational activity allowed us to ascertain the creation of a private, structured, and organized online community, with strict rules, composed of over 1,009 participants . This community was accessible by publishing a dedicated link to gather more users, and their continued membership was permitted upon payment of small sums of money (defined as donations) in cryptocurrency or sharing new child pornography material."

Furthermore, "Members received direct and constant support from the organizers, including the sharing of IT resources necessary to ensure anonymity and safeguard the distributed illegal material, including in encrypted form, to prevent its loss. The methods adopted by the administrators had resulted in an increase in the volume of available child pornography databases. During the undercover operation alone, investigators acquired approximately 282.9 gigabytes of illegal material, including over 22,000 videos and 34,000 images."

(Unioneonline)

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