Europol agents this week infiltrated a massive child pornography ring and arrested 112 people in 22 countries. During their raids agents went after the worst of the child pornography collects, specifically those with “the most extreme forms of video material” which the Associated Press says included pictures and videos of toddlers and babies being raped.

Agents have revealed that internet chat channels they uncovered have led to 269 suspects, agents are currently arresting the criminals based on the severity of their crimes.

Europol director Rob Wainwright said the operation was a complete success but noted that child porn traders are making it more difficult to track them down because of better technology that allows for identity protection when sharing images and videos.

Codenamed Operation Icarus was led under the leadership of Danish internet security experts because of their expertise in dealing with peer-to-peer networks.

The age of the men range from 24 to 55 years old and all of them are being held in Denmark on preliminary charges. The men were arrested in the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Norway and Switzerland.

In the meantime investigators do not have their work cut out for them, in one case they will need to sift through 120 terabyte of high definition video from just one arrested party.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Europol Sting Busts 112 Child Pornographers, More To Follow is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the war on immigration continues the Obama administration has been working in 2011 to deported “high-risk cases” including more than 216,000 convicted criminals according to a new report.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton:

“Smart and effective immigration enforcement relies on setting priorities for removal and executing on those priorities.”

Morton added:

“These year-end totals indicate that we are making progress, with more convicted criminals, recent border crossers, egregious immigration law violators and immigration fugitives being removed from the country than ever before.”

From July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 approximately 396,000 people have been deported, 55 percent of which were criminals, that number according to U.S. governmental statistics is an 89 percent increase over the same period in 2008.

According to a Pew Hispanic Center study deportations have also allowed the number of illegal immigrants in the United States to fall from 12 million in 2007 to just 11.2 million in 2010.

Speaking about the current administrations rapid deportation of more than 1.2 million people since President Obama entered office the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says:

“These record-breaking deportation numbers come at a time when illegal immigration rates have plummeted, the undocumented population has decreased substantially and violent crime rates are at their lowest levels in 40 years. Our country can no longer afford to pay for uncontrolled, unwarranted DHS spending at the cost to U.S. taxpayers.”

Do you agree with the ACLU that the Obama administration has overstepped their bounds when deporting illegal immigrants or should the administration be doing more to ensure immigrants come into and remain in our country legally?

Deportation In 2011 Focused On Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Records is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is being billed as one of the biggest fraud and identity theft rings ever busted in New York, with over 100 people arrested, 85 currently in custody, and with others still being sought.

In total five separate criminal enterprises that were operating out of Queens were busted up resulting in hundreds of charges including identity theft, enterprise corruption, theft and grand larceny.

The ring had been in operation from at least 2010 and included employees at restaurants, at least one bank, a retail stores. These employees would steal the credit card numbers of customers and pass them along up the chain. Additionally members of the ring would steal card information online.

The collected numbers were then given to teams of card and information manufacturers who would then forge various credit cards as well as other realistic identifications. These cards and ids would then be handed out to teams of “shoppers” would go on spending sprees at higher-end stores like Apple, Macy’s, and Bloomingdales.

From what authorities have been able to piece together these shopping gangs bought over $13 million on goods like iPads, iPhones, computers, high-end clothing and accessories which where then sent overseas to places like China and Europe to be sold.

As one of the detectives involved in the investigation said – these thieves have an incredible knowledge when it comes to the technology used these days and that the schemes and imagination being developed these days to pull off operations like this is “mind-boggling”.

via Forbes.

More than 100 arrested in NYC identity theft ring is a post from: The Inquisitr

Eyewitness generated images of suspects in some cases don’t come close to the actual perpetrator but sometimes they come pretty close. The problems lies in being able to match up those police sketches with an actual mug shot in the police database.

This is something that the researchers at Michigan State University sought to fix with a new computer program that will be able to match those sketches with mug shots.

The MSU system doesn’t work on a pixel-by-pixel basis, but instead uses algorithms to match faces based on prominent features such as the structural distribution and shape of the eyes, nose and chin. Given that sketches sometimes end up not looking all that much like the real person overall, but retaining some of their underlying characteristics, it becomes easy to see how a computer program could make connections that people looking at a “WANTED” poster might miss.

The system was put to the test using a collection of sketches from crimes in which the criminal was later identified, and a database of over 10,000 mug shots. It was able to match 45 percent of the sketches to the right photos – at this point, perhaps not good enough to base a conviction on, but certainly an aid in guiding investigators to likely suspects.

via GizMag

[Damn Cool] Matching police sketches to actual mug shots is a post from: The Inquisitr

Voicing the frustration anyone who’s spent $250 on a window broken for $0.64 in change and a half a Kit-Kat, this man calls out the dick who broke his ocarina.

I feel you, dude. My driver’s side window still isn’t the same owing to the week and a half I lived in Newark.

[Digg]

Pic: Dear Criminals is a post from: The Inquisitr

How many times have you wanted to pee on those horrible people that expect you to queue to leave Walmart after dropping $200 on pet food and socks because they want to make sure you’re not shoplifting spatulas?

On Halloween night, a Walmart security guard learned the hard way why retail security guards are asked to not aggressively pursue shoplifters, even ones who seem clearly guilty. An incident reported to police by the unnamed guard just before 7:45pm involving $45 of merchandise saw the Walmart guard being headbutted into the accused’s car, sat and urinated on before being driven away with the suspects.

Police say the incident escalated when the women accused of the theft, Marilyn Cole, 35, and Rashieka L. Stewart, 23, broke away after being detained for suspected shoplifting of items including curtains and makeup. The guard ran after the women and attempted to block Cole from entering her vehicle. It was then that the women are alleged to have attacked the guard, who was later released to police before the women were forced out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

Cole was on parole for bank robbery at the time of the incident, and her bail was set at $35K. Stewart’s bail was ordered at $15K. Both women were charged with unarmed robbery, and Cole was also charged with interfering with a police report.

[via Consumerist]

MI Walmart security guard forced into car, peed on by alleged shoplifters is a post from: The Inquisitr

Alleged to have raped and nearly killed an 8-year-old girl in 1990, Dennis Earl Bradford has walked free for almost 19 years since the crime.

Bradford’s victim, Jennifer Schuett, is now 27. She never gave up hope that her attacker would be prosecuted, and thanks to DNA evidence, he has been apprehended. The FBI published an affidavit on the web detailing the horrific crime:

Jennifer was last seen inside her apartment at approximately 2:30 AM on August 10, 1990, leaving her mother’s bedroom and going to her bedroom. At approximately 7:00 AM, on August 10, 1990, Eliane discovered Jennifer was missing from her bedroom. At about 7:40 AM, an investigation was opened into the disappearance of Jennifer Schuett. Eliane reported that Jennifer was last seen wearing a pink shirt, pink shorts and white underwear with blue roses.

At about 6:30 PM on August 10, 1990, Jennifer was found in an empty field located behind 2112 California, Dickinson, County of Galveston, Texas. Jennifer was nude and her throat had been cut. Jennifer was unable to talk when located.

The crime occurred in Dickinson, Texas, and Bradford was captured in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is charged with attempted capital murder.

[Source]

DNA evidence catches up with Dennis Earl Bradford in shocking child rape case is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here in Canada we have the pleasure of paying some of the highest prices for blank CDs due to the fact that it is thought that anyone using blank CD is automatically a copyright breaking criminal. This is the same idea that was a popular believe back when cassettes were all the rage. The belief was; and heavily promoted by the recording industry – then and now – that there is no reason why anyone would want to use blank CDS other than to pirate music.

This resulted in a 21 cent tax being levied per blank CD which before any other of our famous taxes being applied cost the consumer $11.99 per 50 pack of blanks – without cases. Now that is pretty well the cheapest price with it ranging upward from there depending on the store. Don’t expect that price if you’re shopping in a brick and mortar retailer.

The increase of 8 cents to 29 cents levy on each blank CD-R is being justified by the Copyright Board of Canada because of the increasing usage of  compression which allows for more stuff to be recorded on CDs. The interesting thing is that this digital criminal tax isn’t being applied to blank DVD even though they hold more data. This has resulted in CDs being more expensive to buy than blank DVD.

This tax levy amounts to about $30 million per year which is then handed right over to the music industry with a wink and a nod that the musicians will see any of the money.

Canada increases its ‘you are a digital criminal’ tax is a post from: The Inquisitr