More than 30 arrested in Quebec-wide child-porn crackdown, SQ says

The Sûreté du Québec on Friday announced that a special squad composed of its officers as well as those from several municipal police forces arrested 31 people between Tuesday and Thursday in connection with a provincewide investigation into child pornography.

The suspects, ages 37 to 79, have already appeared in court in their respective regions in the wake of an operation that involved more than 275 officers from the SQ, as well as the Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, Gatineau and Quebec City police departments. Those arrested face charges including online luring of children, arranging to commit a sexual offence on a child, making sexually explicit material available to a child, sexual assault and possession and distribution of child pornography.

The arrests follow an investigation that began in the autumn of 2022. The SQ’S cybercrime and online sexual exploitation squads were also involved. The multi-force squad was created in October 2021.