Three alleged Child Online Sexual Predators have been arrested in the Western Cape, with thousands of images and videos of child pornography in their possession. One man even posed as a teenager to lure girls.

This brings the total number of suspects arrested across the country since last year to seven.

It forms part of a joint operation between the SAPS Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations Unit and the US Department of Homeland security.

The Police’s Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says the first of the 3 Western Cape suspects was nabbed in Worcestor last Wednesday, 17 January.

The 53-year-old man was found with 95 000 images and 6000 videos of child pornography. He faces a charge of accessing, distributing and possession of child pornography.

The second suspect, a 40-year-old man was arrested in Kraaifontein on Thursday, 18 January. In his possession, he was found with more than 149 000 pictures of child pornography as well as more than 5000 videos.

He was found in possession of two unlicensed firearms and various calibre of ammunition, as well as 9 snakes of which three did not have a permit. He is facing charges of possession of illegal firearms and ammunition, possession, distribution and accessing of child pornography.

A 32-year-old man from Mitchell’s Plan was the third suspect to be arrested on Friday, 19th January 2024.

He posed as a teenager, and was found to be chatting and luring under age girls on chat group where nude pictures where exchanged.

The other four suspects were arrested in November last year. Three were arrested in Gauteng and one in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mathe has shared tips for parents:

• Monitor the devices and social media accounts of your children to ensure they don’t fall prey to such crimes.
• Install parental control software and apps that can identify and block harmful content in chats, forms and other internet communication tools.
• Advise children not to respond to messages or emails from strangers.
• Never upload sexually suggestive images of yourself to the internet.
• Never reveal personal information about yourself, including where you stay or which school you go to, to an online friend.
• Never agree to meet a stranger in private.
• Inform an adult or call 0860010111 to report any incident that makes you feel uncomfortable.