At least 25 arrests have been carried out during the World Operations against Pictures of Abuse of Children, which created artificial intelligence (AI), said the Europol Europol Organization for the implementation of the EU law.
The suspects were part of a criminal group whose members became involved in the distribution of fully generated images of minors, the agency said.
Operation is one of the first to involve such a material for sexual abuse (Csam), Europol says. The lack of national legislation against these crimes made him “extremely challenging to investigators,” he added.
The arrests were carried out at the same time on Wednesday, February 26 during the Operation Cumberland, led by Danish law implementation, according to a press release.
Authorities from at least 18 other countries are included, and surgery continues, and more arrests are expected in the next few weeks, Europol said.
In addition to the arrest, 272 suspects have been identified so far, 33 home searches have been conducted and 173 electronic devices have been seized, according to the Agency.
He also said that the main suspect was a Danish citizen who was arrested in November 2024.
The statement states that “he led an internet platform on which he distributed the Ai-ratio material he produced.”
After making “symbolic payment online”, users from all over the world managed to get a password that allowed them to “access platforms and watching children abused.”
The agency said that internet sexual exploitation of children is one of the main priorities for the organizations for the implementation of the EU law, which dealt with “increasing amounts of illegal content”.
Europol added that even in cases where the content was completely artificial and was not presented with real victims, such as Cumberland surgery, “Csam who generated AI continues to contribute to the objectivation and sexualization of children.”
Europol Executive Director Catherine de Bolle said: “These artificially generated paintings are so easily created that they can be produced by individuals with criminal intent, even without significant technical knowledge.”
She warned that the implementation of the law would need to develop “new investigative methods and tools” to resolve the emergence challenges.
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warns that more sexual abuse AI pictures of children are produced and becoming all prevalent on the open web.
Last year, a charity organization found that during a one -month period of 3,512 AI sexual abuse and exploitation paintings were discovered on a dark website. Compared to one month in the previous year, the number of the most serious categories (category A) images increased by 10%.
Experts say that AI material for sexual abuse of children can often look incredibly realistic, making it difficult to say really from false.
