The Australian Federal Police have charged a 57-year-old Cairns man with possessing child abuse material following an investigation into the alleged payment of money to the Philippines to facilitate child abuse.
The investigation into the man’s alleged activities began in July following information received by police that the man was sending money remittances to the Philippines that could be facilitating the abuse of children.
Officers executed a search warrant at the man’s home, in the Cairns suburb of Yorkeys Knob, yesterday afternoon.
During a search of the home police seized a number of electronic items and allegedly uncovered evidence of child abuse material on those devices.
The 57-year-old man was charged with two counts of possessing child abuse material obtained using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The maximum penalty for this offence includes up to 15 year imprisonment.
The seized devices will be subject to further forensic examination and enquiries into the man’s online activities will continue.
AFP Child Protection Operations Detective Superintendent, Paula Hudson said the AFP was committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse here and overseas.
“We have people working around-the-clock with our international and domestic partners to bring to justice those who seek to do harm to children and we will not stop,” Det Supt Hudson said.
“Just because victims may be outside of Australia doesn’t make perpetrators safe from our investigations.”
He is next due to appear in Cairns Magistrates Court on 15 September 2020.
Members of the public who have any information about people involved in child abuse and exploitation are urged to call Crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.
You can also make a report online by alerting the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation via the Report Abuse button.
