Poland detains 123 people in nationwide operation against child porn

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland has detained 123 people in a nationwide operation against those responsible for the production, storage and distribution of child pornography.

Around 1,500 electronic devices, including phones and laptops, were seized, containing some 330,000 video and image files depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, police say. Some of the files consisted of child pornography generated by AI.

Among those detained, one is a “teacher who recorded and photographed children”, while another groomed minors through a “popular messaging [app]” and encouraged them to perform sexual acts, said the police’s Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC).

Another was a “19-year-old who, according to preliminary findings, was recording pornographic content involving his underage stepsister” and two others were men who “had cameras installed in their homes, which they used to record their loved ones, family members and other people during intimate acts”.

In April, the CBZC and other police units launched a new operation called “Hellfire” as part of a wider ongoing probe targeting online child sex abuse.

In separate statements on Thursday, the National Prosecutor’s Office and the CBZC announced the results so far, including the number of suspects and the charges brought against them.

A total of 123 people aged between 19 and 94 were detained, with 95 of them charged with production, possession or distribution of child pornography, which can carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

Courts have ordered that 47 of the suspects be placed in pretrial detention for a period of three months.

In 2023, Poland’s former government launched a new strategy to strengthen the fight against sexual abuse of minors. The following year, after a change in government, the then justice minister, Adam Bodnar, issued new guidelines aimed at improving and speeding up the way prosecutors handle cases of child sexual abuse.

On Thursday, Bodnar’s successor, Waldemar Żurek, thanked those involved in the latest operation, which he called “a decisive response by the state to crimes against children”.

“The internet cannot be a place of impunity, especially when it comes to harming children,” wrote Żurek on social media.

Hellfire was the eighth such operation conducted by CBZC and prosecutors in recent years. Previous ones have led to nearly 580 people being charged and the seizure of three million files.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Policja (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.