An international operation coordinated by Europol led to the Malta Police arresting two men in Malta in connection with the online sexual exploitation of children.

Police said that “Operation Stream” saw the involvement of police from more than 35 countries around the world, including the Malta Police Force, where 1,400 suspects were identified globally, leading to the arrest of 79 of them, including 2 in Malta.

During this operation, the Malta Police said it conducted a raid where electronic equipment and other devices related to the online sexual exploitation of children were seized, and the two men were arrested, one aged 27 and the other 26. One of those arrested has appeared in Court and admitted to the charges, the other is expected to face legal proceedings in the coming days.

Operation Stream has been the largest operation ever handled by Europol’s experts in fighting child sexual exploitation, and one of the biggest cases supported by the law enforcement agency in recent years.

This international cooperation led to the shutdown of the “Kidflix” platform, one of the largest online platforms known for paedophilia, which contained more than 72,000 videos.

Unlike other known platforms of this kind, Kidflix not only enabled users to download CSAM but also to stream video files. Users made payments using cryptocurrencies, which were subsequently converted into tokens.

By uploading CSAM, verifying video titles and descriptions and assigning categories to videos, offenders could earn tokens, which were then used to view content. Each video was uploaded in multiple versions – low, medium and high quality – allowing criminals to preview the content and pay a fee to unlock higher quality versions.

File photo: Malta Police

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