New Delhi: In a mega crackdown against the sales and distribution of online child pornography, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting raids at 56 locations across 20 states on Saturday.
Highly placed sources told IANS that the CBI received inputs on the sales and distribution of such material on the Internet from Interpol's Singapore-based Crime Against Child Unit.
The CBI's search operation, Meghchakra, is aimed at identifying and taking action against the individuals and gangs involved in circulating child sexual abuse material through social media platforms, and blackmailing minors.
The raids come after the Supreme Court last week asked the centre to submit a detailed report on the mechanism in place to monitor the cases involving circulation of child pornographic material.
"We have learnt that Cloud storage is being used by the accused in distribution of child sexual abuse material. We got inputs and developed it on our own. We located their hidouts based on technical surveillance and are now rading them," the sources said.
The sources said that the ongoing operation was a follow up of raids which were conducted in November 2021 in connection with the same crime.
At the time, it was named 'Operation Carbon'.
The international co-operation channels have been used by the federal probe agency to unearth the entire network of accused who are distributing child porn online.