Wednesday, 3 February 2016 - 09:54
Dutch police: FBI join underage Instagram sexting investigation
The Dutch police team investigating the Instagram sexting case in Tilburg high schools, requested the help of American investigation service FBI. Among other things, the FBI can retrieve personal information from Instagram, something the Dutch police can not do, Brabants Dagblad reports.
The case revolves around dozens of sexually suggestive photos of young Tilburg girls being shared on social media sites, particularly photo sharing site Instagram. It mostly involves photos of students from pre-vocational secondary school Vackcollege, but intimate photos were also shared of students at 2College Durendael in Oisterwijk and the Koning Willem II College in Tilburg. The police believes that these photos were put online by fellow students, who got the pics confidentially through "sexting" - sending of sexual photos and text messages.
"As Dutch police we can not approach Instagram ourselves, which is why we approached the FBI with a so-called request for assistance", police spokesperson Willem-Jan Uytdehage said to Brabants Dagblad. "We are now waiting for a response from America. That takes time."
So far no arrests were made in this case. According to Uytdehage, the investigating team is treading very carefully because they believe they are dealing with underage suspects. A special child pornography team is working on the case.