Thiruvananthapuram: In a crackdown on child pornography, the Kerala police have arrested 41 people, including IT-savvy youth and those working in professional jobs, for allegedly sharing sexually explicit material involving children through social media using hi-tech methods.
The Counter Child Sexual Exploitation (CCSE) team of the police also seized a large number of electronic devices, including laptops and mobile phones, during simultaneous raids at around 326 locations across the state on Sunday in an operation named 'P Hunt_20.2', a police release said.
Following the routine raids, police have arrested 41 people and registered 268 cases for propagating child pornography, viewing, distributing or storing of which was a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment up to five years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.
The team has also identified the WhatsApp groups which were sharing child porn," the release said.
"Based on the recovery of the devices with the CSAM (child sexual abuse material), 41 arrests were made. These
include youth working in good professional jobs and most of them are IT savvy, which is the reason why they were using all kinds of encrypted handles to upload and download the material," it said.