Australia charges four men over ‘satanic’ child sex abuse material | Sexual Assault News

Police say they have seized thousands of videos of abuse involving symbols and rituals associated with Satanism and the occult.

Police in Australia have charged four people after investigating an “International Satanic Child Sexual Abuse Material Ring” in the city of Sydney.

New South Wales (NSW) police said on Monday they had charged the four with dozens of criminal offenses after executing six search warrants at multiple addresses in Sydney last week.

The men, aged 26, 39, 42 and 46, were arrested on Thursday.

NSW Police said the operation was carried out after an investigative team, called Strike Force Constantine, uncovered a pedophile network based in Sydney that distributed abuse material involving “ritualistic or satanic themes”.

He said the network broadcast content through an internationally administered website.

Footage released by police shows officers breaking down the door of an apartment unit and taking a suspect into handcuffs.

Police said the 26-year-old man played a leading role in the group.

According to police, the men face more than 20 charges related to possessing and distributing child abuse material as well as bestiality, with some of them also charged with drug possession, not complying with reporting obligations and breaching a restraining order.

All four men were refused bail.

Police said they had not yet verified where the abuse material was created, nor identified any of the children who were abused.

“Due to the nature of the material they were sharing and the conversations we became aware of, we were concerned about the children these people may have come into contact with as a result,” Superintendent Jayne Doherty, commander of the sexual crimes squad, told a press conference.

Doherty said authorities have seized thousands of videos depicting the abuse of children 12 and under, including infants.

“Police will allege in court that this international group was involved in communicating and sharing material which depicted child abuse and the exploitation of children linked to symbols and rituals associated with Satanism and witchcraft,” Doherty said.

Doherty said authorities did not believe those arrested had recorded any material themselves, and that authorities were working with international partners to identify the victims.

All four will be presented in court in late January.