Strike Force Trawler detectives have charged a man over the alleged procurement of a child online.
In December 2018, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) began engaging online with a man from the state’s far south.
Police will allege in court that the man believed he was speaking with a 14-year-old boy and engaged in highly-sexualised conversations, including discussing sexual acts he wished to perform on and with the child.
It will also be alleged that the man made arrangements to meet the child for sex.
Following extensive investigations, Strike Force Trawler detectives arrested a 54-year-old man in the car park at Casula Railway Station, just before 10am yesterday (Sunday 24 February 2019).
Shortly after the arrest, investigators searched a hotel room at Casula and executed a search warrant at a home at Albury, where they seized a mobile phone, a laptop and an electronic storage device. The items will undergo forensic examination.
The Albury man was taken to Liverpool Police Station, where he was charged with using a carriage service to procure person under 16 years of age for sexual activity.
He was refused bail to appear at Liverpool Local Court today (Monday 25 February 2019).
Strike Force Trawler is an ongoing investigation by the CEIU into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet and related telecommunications devices.
Regular covert online investigations are conducted by the CEIU; and police in NSW work closely with their law-enforcement colleagues interstate and overseas.
Anyone with information about internet predators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/
Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
