A massive European police operation has identified more than 1,400 people worldwide accused of abusing minors and distributing child pornography online.
These individuals operated an online network known as “Kidflix,” which distributed child pornography. The network had been visited by 1.8 million visitors over the past three years and contained 72,000 videos that have already been seized by Dutch and German police.
A 39-year-old man from Tirana, suspected of being part of this child pornography distribution network, was also arrested. Three mobile phones and a laptop were seized from him.
Kidflix was created in 2021 by a cybercriminal who made huge profits as it quickly became one of the most popular platforms among pedophiles. According to authorities, 91,000 unique videos were uploaded and shared on the platform during its lifetime, with a total duration of 6,288 hours. On average, about 3.5 new videos were uploaded to the platform every hour, many of which were previously unknown to law enforcement.
Police announcement:
The State Police, part of the international police operation codenamed "Stream", against the sexual exploitation of minors on the internet.
Law enforcement agencies from 35 states, including the State Police, participated in the operation.
The international operation “Stream” was led by the Bavarian State Criminal Police and the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime (ZCB), and was supported by EUROPOL.
The Directorate for the Investigation of Cybercrimes at the State Police, following information received from the German police authorities and EUROPOL that an Albanian citizen was implicated in this criminal activity, has referred the procedural materials to the Tirana Prosecutor's Office, which has registered proceedings for the criminal offense of "Pornography" with minors.
As a result of investigative and procedural actions carried out by the Directorate for the Investigation of Cyber Crimes and the Directorate of the Special Operational Force, the suspect, citizen MZ, 29 years old, resident of Tirana, was identified.
Also, the decision of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Tirana was executed, to conduct searches in the 29-year-old's apartment, where 3 cell phones and 1 laptop were seized for the purpose of the investigation.
The seized devices have been sent for further computer examinations.
Investigations continue to fully document this criminal activity in our country.