Operation Rescue: Difference between revisions

From BoyWiki
VisualWikitext
(Going to move some info to here from the BoyLover.net page. This deserves its own page considering the impact it had.)
 
(Port of content from BLN page. Further edits to do yet, as content needs obvious rewrite for consistency/formatting.)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{fledgling}}
{{fledgling}}
'''Operation Rescue''' was an international investigation started by the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and later taken over by Europol. It started in 2007, and concluded in 2011 with 184 arrests. The operation caused the shutdown of [[BoyLover.net]] in November 2009.
'''Operation Rescue''' was an international investigation started by the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and later taken over by Europol. It started in 2007, and concluded in 2011 with 184 arrests. The operation caused the shutdown of [[BoyLover.net]] in November 2009.
==History==
In 2007, The UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) started investigating BoyLover.net, and later that year infiltrated the website, in an operation which would become Operation Rescue in 2009 when it joined forces with Europol, Australia, US authorities, and various other countries. In 2008, the Australian Federal Police's new unit Child Protection Operations (CPO) began to take note of BoyLover.net after an investigation into two child sex tourists started to involve the website. Intelligence gathering on BoyLover.net quickly became a secondary focus, and soon Operation Caledon shifted focus. Initially, Operation Caledon was named Action Hercules.<ref name="aus2">[https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/250878-three-australians-arrested-in-child-sex-tourism-ring/ Three Australians Arrested In Child Sex Tourism Ring - Thailand News - Thailand Visa Forum by Thai Visa | The Nation] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref><ref name="aus3">[https://secure.boychat.org/messages/1192957.htm 'Operation Caledon' = 'Action Hercule (BoyChat) 2009-12-10 17:58:38 EST] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref> Later in 2008 the AFP began to suggest a cooperative effort in investigating BoyLover.net.<ref>[http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUFPPlatypus/2013/6.pdf Australian Federal Police Platypus Magazine, page 27 -32] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref>
In February 2008, CEOP handed Thai authorities information on a potential child sex offences occuring in the country being committed by British citizens. This information was later used by Thai authorities in Operation Naga to arrest four men.<ref name="fbi2009_06">[http://web.archive.org/web/20181024094645/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/mar/16/global-paedophile-ring-smashed Police shut down global paedophile network in Operation Rescue | Society | The Guardian (Internet Archive, 2018-10-24 @ 09:46:45)] Accessed November 22, 2018.</ref>
Somewhere in 2008 or 2009, British authorities were able to take over the account of BLN British administrator. This gave them almost complete access to the site, allowing them to see all the information members entered into their profiles (including birth date, occupation, location, and more).<ref name="fbi2009_06" />
In 2009, two senior BLN members were arrested by AFP, and three months later US authorities were informed that Joseph Gittings (later identified as Joecool4218) was an administrator to BLN.<ref name="fbi2009_01">[http://web.archive.org/web/20091212191232/https://www.northfulton.com/articles-c-2009-12-07-181049.114126-sub_international_child_porn_ring_tied_to_roswell_cumming.html International child porn ring tied to Roswell, Cumming (Internet Archive, 2009-12-12 @ 19:12:32] Accessed November 22, 2018.</ref>
On November 24, 2009, a raid was conducted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the home of Gittings, arresting him for child pornography possession and distribution, and also arrested his boyfriend on separate charges. A day later, November 25, Dale Hodges was raided and arrested at his home on further child pornography charges, and Amir Ish-Hurwitz (LostBoy) was raided in his Netherlands home while Dutch authorities elsewhere seized the server for BLN resulting in the site's permanent closure. At the time of being closed, the site had over 70,000 members.<ref name="fbi2009_06" /><ref name="fbi2009_01" /> On the same day, Loren was raided and his site [[BoyZoom]] was closed to ensure members were safe.<ref name="bz_2009_01">[https://secure.boychat.org/messages/1190351.htm I got this news from the BZ... (BoyChat) 2009-11-25 19:38:56 EST] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref> On December 1, BoyZoom permanently shut down in fear of being closed down.<ref name="bz_2009_02">[https://www.boychat.org/messages/1191168.htm Re: B/Z down to? (BoyChat) - 2009-12-1 12:00:46 EST] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref>
The seizure and arrests were quick to spread amongst boylovers, with the first thread on BoyChat gaining many replies in the few days after being posted and numerous other threads appearing throughout the following few months.<ref name="boychat_2009_01">[https://secure.boychat.org/messages/1190323.htm what happened to boylover.net (BoyChat) - 2009-11-25 17:14:50 EST]</ref> Through the next two years, details of the trials for Gittings and Hodges were sporadically posted by anonymous posters and occasionally on request.<ref name="bc_2010_01">[https://www.boychat.org/messages/1206984.htm BLN's 'Joecool' pleads Not Guilty (BoyChat) - 2010-03-22 18:46:07 EST] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref><ref name="bc_2010_02">[https://www.boychat.org/messages/1211659.htm Re: Any updates on BLN trials? (BoyChat) - 2010-05-23 18:55:55 EST] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref>
Following the conviction of Hurwitz after his trial, Europol held a press conference and released details of Operation Rescue.<ref name="fbi2009_06" /> In total, at the time of the conference, 184 people had been arrested and 670 members suspected of committing criminal offences, despite claims from an Australian newspaper alleging over 200 arrests.<ref name="europol1">[https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/europol-in-action/operations/operation-rescue Operation Rescue | Europol] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref><ref name="aus_2011_01">[https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/aussies-part-of-internet-paedophile-network/news-story/68c97320f192887d4a1fc9521d61c525?sv=63ddcb015bf8fd67ec59d91a58951b1e Aussies part of internet paedophile network | Daily Telegraph] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref> 121 memberes were British, and 31 were Australian.<ref name="fbi2009_06" /><ref name="aus_2011_01" /> A total of 4202 intelligence reports had been created on members of the deceased site and distributed to 33 different countries worldwide.<ref name="europol2">[https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/more-200-children-identified-and-rescued-in-worldwide-police-operation More than 200 children identified and rescued in worldwide police operation | Europol] Accessed December 1, 2018.</ref>
Despite rumours that administration members may have used the BLN server to exchange child pornography, the Dutch Justice Ministry stated that the BLN server was clean.<ref name="bc2011_01">[https://www.boychat.org/messages/1243846.htm CJAT news story on boylover.net - 'Servers clean' (BoyChat)] Accessed November 22, 2018.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
*[[BoyLover.net]]


[[Category:Community]]
[[Category:Community]]
[[Category:Law enforcement]]
[[Category:Law enforcement]]

Revision as of 12:56, 7 January 2019


Operation Rescue was an international investigation started by the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and later taken over by Europol. It started in 2007, and concluded in 2011 with 184 arrests. The operation caused the shutdown of BoyLover.net in November 2009.

History

In 2007, The UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) started investigating BoyLover.net, and later that year infiltrated the website, in an operation which would become Operation Rescue in 2009 when it joined forces with Europol, Australia, US authorities, and various other countries. In 2008, the Australian Federal Police's new unit Child Protection Operations (CPO) began to take note of BoyLover.net after an investigation into two child sex tourists started to involve the website. Intelligence gathering on BoyLover.net quickly became a secondary focus, and soon Operation Caledon shifted focus. Initially, Operation Caledon was named Action Hercules.[1][2] Later in 2008 the AFP began to suggest a cooperative effort in investigating BoyLover.net.[3]

In February 2008, CEOP handed Thai authorities information on a potential child sex offences occuring in the country being committed by British citizens. This information was later used by Thai authorities in Operation Naga to arrest four men.[4]

Somewhere in 2008 or 2009, British authorities were able to take over the account of BLN British administrator. This gave them almost complete access to the site, allowing them to see all the information members entered into their profiles (including birth date, occupation, location, and more).[4]

In 2009, two senior BLN members were arrested by AFP, and three months later US authorities were informed that Joseph Gittings (later identified as Joecool4218) was an administrator to BLN.[5]

On November 24, 2009, a raid was conducted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the home of Gittings, arresting him for child pornography possession and distribution, and also arrested his boyfriend on separate charges. A day later, November 25, Dale Hodges was raided and arrested at his home on further child pornography charges, and Amir Ish-Hurwitz (LostBoy) was raided in his Netherlands home while Dutch authorities elsewhere seized the server for BLN resulting in the site's permanent closure. At the time of being closed, the site had over 70,000 members.[4][5] On the same day, Loren was raided and his site BoyZoom was closed to ensure members were safe.[6] On December 1, BoyZoom permanently shut down in fear of being closed down.[7]

The seizure and arrests were quick to spread amongst boylovers, with the first thread on BoyChat gaining many replies in the few days after being posted and numerous other threads appearing throughout the following few months.[8] Through the next two years, details of the trials for Gittings and Hodges were sporadically posted by anonymous posters and occasionally on request.[9][10]

Following the conviction of Hurwitz after his trial, Europol held a press conference and released details of Operation Rescue.[4] In total, at the time of the conference, 184 people had been arrested and 670 members suspected of committing criminal offences, despite claims from an Australian newspaper alleging over 200 arrests.[11][12] 121 memberes were British, and 31 were Australian.[4][12] A total of 4202 intelligence reports had been created on members of the deceased site and distributed to 33 different countries worldwide.[13]

Despite rumours that administration members may have used the BLN server to exchange child pornography, the Dutch Justice Ministry stated that the BLN server was clean.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Three Australians Arrested In Child Sex Tourism Ring - Thailand News - Thailand Visa Forum by Thai Visa | The Nation Accessed December 1, 2018.
  2. ↑ 'Operation Caledon' = 'Action Hercule (BoyChat) 2009-12-10 17:58:38 EST Accessed December 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ Australian Federal Police Platypus Magazine, page 27 -32 Accessed December 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Police shut down global paedophile network in Operation Rescue | Society | The Guardian (Internet Archive, 2018-10-24 @ 09:46:45) Accessed November 22, 2018.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 International child porn ring tied to Roswell, Cumming (Internet Archive, 2009-12-12 @ 19:12:32 Accessed November 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ I got this news from the BZ... (BoyChat) 2009-11-25 19:38:56 EST Accessed December 1, 2018.
  7. ↑ Re: B/Z down to? (BoyChat) - 2009-12-1 12:00:46 EST Accessed December 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ what happened to boylover.net (BoyChat) - 2009-11-25 17:14:50 EST
  9. ↑ BLN's 'Joecool' pleads Not Guilty (BoyChat) - 2010-03-22 18:46:07 EST Accessed December 1, 2018.
  10. ↑ Re: Any updates on BLN trials? (BoyChat) - 2010-05-23 18:55:55 EST Accessed December 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ Operation Rescue | Europol Accessed December 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Aussies part of internet paedophile network | Daily Telegraph Accessed December 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ More than 200 children identified and rescued in worldwide police operation | Europol Accessed December 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ CJAT news story on boylover.net - 'Servers clean' (BoyChat) Accessed November 22, 2018.

See also

Retrieved from "https://www.boywiki.org/en/index.php?title=Operation_Rescue&oldid=41139"