Sask. ICE investigation leads to rescue of abused children overseas
Officers with the Saskatchewan RCMP and Prince Albert Police Service were recently involved in an online investigation that led to the rescue of nine child abuse victims in Philippines.
Staff Sgt. Scott Lambie, provincial coordinator of the RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE), said the case began in February with a child pornography investigation in Saskatoon. Lambie said the RCMP executed a search warrant and performed a forensic examination of the 27-year-old male suspect’s electronic devices, which revealed he was paying women in the Philippines to exploit their children over the Internet.
“It started out with a single image shared over a social media application,” Lambie said. “The case started small and it exploded.”
The Saskatoon man was charged and sentenced in provincial court, but Lambie said the investigation did not end with him. After charges were laid, Lambie said investigators turned their efforts toward tracking down the victims of the abuse overseas and began working with Philippine National Police and other international law enforcement agencies. In November an adult woman was arrested in the Northern Leyte Province in the Philippines, Lambie said, and nine children were rescued as a result of the Saskatchewan investigation.