Skip to main content

Authorities arrest suspect in Dutch child abuse case

By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Officials identify the suspect as "Robert M," a substitute preschool teacher
  • He is arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of molesting up to 50 children
  • Interpol: Child pornography can only be produced through the sexual abuse of children
RELATED TOPICS

(CNN) -- A substitute preschool teacher suspected of molesting up to 50 children has been arrested in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the international police organization Interpol said.

Dutch prosecution officials have said the 27-year-old man, known as "Robert M," confessed to abusing dozens of children and had images of child sexual abuse at his home, according to a statement Monday from Interpol.

An investigation started after the image of a young boy was identified by his family following its broadcast on Dutch television on December 7 at the request of Dutch national police, Interpol said.

The victim's image was part of a series depicting the sexual abuse of a child under age 5 seized during an operation in the United States by officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Interpol said. The series was added to the International Child Sexual Exploitation database (ICSE) at Interpol's general secretariat in Lyon, the police organization said.

Images from the same series of child pornography had already been seized and added to the database by victim identification specialists from the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Interpol said.

"This case is a clear demonstration of the fact that so-called 'child pornography' can only be produced through the actual sexual abuse of children and that the global trade in child sexual abuse material can only be effectively policed by international cooperation through global channels of the type facilitated by INTERPOL's victim identification team," Bernd Rossbach, director of Interpol's specialized crime unit, said in the statement.