Pictures of extreme sexual abuse of young children seized as Alberta police arrest 10 suspects

An eight-month investigation has concluded with the arrest of 10 people in southern Alberta accused of trading images and videos showing extreme sexual abuse of victims as young as six months old, police announced on Wednesday.

The arrestsmade in Calgary, Medicine Hat andLethbridgewere the culmination of thethird round of Operation ICE Storm, which was overseen by child exploitation investigators with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).

"ICE investigators conducted 30 search warrants across Southern Alberta and seized 285 computers, mobile devices, and storage drives," ALERT said in a release.

"Approximately half of the devices seized have been analyzed thus far, representing 40 terabytes of data, and nearly 50,000 child sexual exploitation photos and videos have been identified."

The operation targeted people suspected of havingthe largest and most graphic collections. The suspects were sharing the contenton peer-to-peer networks, police say.

The suspects each face charges of possession of child pornography, access child pornography, and make available child pornography.

Investigators do not believe any of the victims are from Alberta, or that any hands-on offences were committed by the suspects. None of the suspects were in positions of public trust or authority, ALERT said.

The first and second phases of the ICE Storm probe in 2014 and 2015 resulted in the arrest of 18 suspects.

ALERT is a compilation of provincial police bodies that includes Alberta Sheriffs, Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Regional Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service, andRCMP.

Its ICE team investigates offences involvingchildpornography, computer-relatedchildsexual abuse,childluring over the internet, voyeurism involving victims under the age of 18, andchildsex trade and tourism offences.

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