Law enforcement authorities from over a dozen countries have arrested 20 suspects in an international operation targeting the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

Starting in late 2024, the Spanish National Police discovered multiple instant messaging groups dedicated to the circulation of child sexual exploitation images and alerted authorities in other countries through INTERPOL and Europol after identifying 88 suspects in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

“In December 2024, INTERPOL invited Spanish investigators to Chile to attend the Latin America Victim Identification Task Force meeting,” the international police organization said.

“There, they presented Operation Vibora to specialized officers from across Latin America, allowing them to exchange on cases, provide concrete leads and launch coordinated actions.”

Spanish authorities arrested seven suspects in Barcelona, Valladolid, Sevilla, Murcia, and Jaén, including a teacher charged with sharing child sexual abuse material online and a healthcare worker accused of paying minors from Eastern Europe for CSAM content. The operation also resulted in the seizure of computers, mobile phones, and other devices.

In Latin America, INTERPOL assisted in the arrest of ten more suspects across seven countries, including three in El Salvador and a teacher in Panama, with additional arrests made in Europe and the United States.

Previous operations targeting CSAM platforms

Earlier this year, another joint international investigation led by the State Criminal Police of Bavaria and Bavarian cybercrime prosecutors took down Kidflix, one of the largest child sexual abuse material (CSAM) platforms on the dark web.

Dubbed Operation Stream, the action led to 79 arrests, 1,393 suspects identified, and more than 3,000 electronic devices seized between March 10 and March 23, 2025

In February, law enforcement agencies from 19 countries also arrested 25 suspects linked to a large criminal ring distributing AI-generated CSAM, identifying 273 suspected criminal network members and seizing 173 devices.

Thousands of pedophiles who shared and downloaded CSAM were also identified last year by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group using information-stealing malware logs leaked on the dark web.

Insikt Group provided this information to law enforcement to identify and apprehend these individuals.