The police arrested a 55-year-old man in his home in Haarlemmermeer on Tuesday on suspicion of child sex tourism, the Public Prosecutor said on Friday.
The man is suspected of sexually abusing multiple minor girls in the Philippines and Thailand and the possession of child pornography, the Prosecutor said. The authorities believe he was about to travel back to the Philippines. "There are no indications that he also abused minors in the Netherlands."
At least six underage boys were forced into prostitution by two men in the Utrecht neighborhood of Overvecht over the past years, the Public Prosecution Service confirmed to NU.nl after a report in De Telegraaf. Not all of the suspects' victims have been identified yet, and there may be hundreds of victims, the newspapers write.
Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security wants to eradicate child pornography on the internet. For that reason he is working on a new law under which internet companies who do not remove child porn at lightning speed, can face hefty fines, RTL Nieuws reports.
"It is certainly an enormous ambition, but I m going to do everything I can about it", the Justice Minister said. "I cannot guarantee an internet without child pornography, but I want to substantially reduce the share of child pornography on the internet in two years."
There are a multitude of pro-anorexia sites where girls with the eating disorder can exchange tips to lose weight. These sites often also include 'coaches', who guide girls and even scold or punish them if they don't do as told. These 'pro-ana-coaches' are often men who deliberately seek out girls with eating disorders to get nude photos or even sex from them, according to the first results of a Dutch study into these coaches, NOS reports.
Dozens of often foreign hosting companies are storing child pornography, malware and stolen data on Dutch servers. The Public Prosecution Service is teaming up with the network of hosting companies in the Netherlands to address this problem, NOS reports.
On the dark web, men in private networks frequently share images on which specifically Dutch children are abused. New material is added every week, including of children who are still being actively abused, according to research by RTL Nieuws, which went undercover on 14 such networks for several months.
The broadcaster said it informed the police about the investigation before publication. The police are monitoring the currently still active networks. The anonymity of the dark web makes it difficult to take these networks offline.
The Public Prosecutor believes it caught a "big fish" in the distributors of child pornography on the dark web with the arrest of a 26-year-old man from Gorinchem. The court in Rotterdam remanded the man into custody for three months on Tuesday, NU.nl reports.
The man was arrested on January 18th. He has been in restricted custody since then, also denied internet access out of concern that he will warn his 'friends'. Child pornography was found on the man's computer, including material of very young children, the Public Prosecutor said.
After five consecutive years of consistent decrease, the number of crimes registered in the Netherlands increased in the first quarter of 2019. In the first three months of this year, 5 percent more crimes were registered than in the first quarter of 2018, according to figures the police released on Monday.
The number of reports filed with the Netherlands hotline for child pornography nearly doubled last year when compared to 2017. The hotline received 163,430 reports about images, videos and websites containing child pornography in 2018, the expertise agency on online child sexual abuse EOKM said in its annual report, ANP reports.
A 72-year-old man from Amstelveen was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing children in Nepal, the Public Prosecutor announced after the man's arraignment on Tuesday. He was arrested by the Koninklijke Marechaussee last week, when he arrived at Schiphol returning from Nepal.
Doctor Maarten B. confessed to secretly making 46 recordings of minor patients at GP's offices in Amstelveen and Schiedam between 2010 and 2017, while speaking in court on Tuesday. But he denies that he sexually abused the children, RTL Nieuws reports.
A 50-year-old former teacher at a Rotterdam school was arrested on Monday on suspicion of abusing a young girl and possessing child pornography, the Public Prosecutor announced on Friday.
Charges were pressed against the man late last month. Based on this, his home in Gouda was search. "After a short scan" child pornography was found on his data carriers, the Prosecutor said. The man taught the girl "in the past".
Anthony B., a 45-year-old man from Maasdriel suspected of sexually abusing eight children, may have abused more underage kids, the Public Prosecutor said in a proforma hearing against the man. He is also suspected of making child pornography with another 20 children, Omroep Gelderland reports.
The parents of all the children who have been identified in B.'s child pornography have been informed. The material features children between the ages of 8 and 15 years.
Child pornography was shared on a WhatsApp group for pupils at the Carmel College Salland in the Overijssel town of Raalte. The school speaks of an "extremely worrying situation" in an email to parents. The school management gave the situation high priority and consulted with the police about follow-up steps, De Gelderlander reports.
Jos B., the 56-year-old man suspected of sexually assaulting and killing 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen in Brunssummerheide in 1998, denies having anything to do with the child's death. He did confess to viewing child pornography, but said in court on Wednesday that he downloaded it accidentally, the Telegraaf reports.
The charges against Jos B., the man suspected of involvement in the death of Nicky Verstappen in 1998, was lessened by the court in Limburg. B. is no longer facing a murder charge, but manslaughter, sources confirmed to De Limburger.
According to the newspaper, there is insufficient evidence in the case that B. killed the 11-year-old boy with premeditation. The court therefore lessened the charge to manslaughter. The maximum prison sentence for murder is life, the maximum sentence for manslaughter is 15 years.
A child pornography and sexual abuse case in the Gelderland town of Alem may be much larger than the authorities believed. A 45-year-old man is already accused of making child pornography of eight children. But the Public Prosecutor now believes that there may be 20 more victims, was revealed in a pro-forma hearing in the court in Zutphen on Thursday, AD reports.
A 77-year-old man from Amsterdam was sentenced to four years in prison by the court in Zwolle. He was convicted of sexually abusing four girls in Southeast Asia, for creating, possessing, sharing and importing child pornography, and for possessing and importing animal pornography, NU.nl reports.
The court in Assen sentenced a 46-year-old former police officer to one year in prison, six months of which conditionally suspended, for the possession and distribution of child pornography. The Public Prosecutor demanded 15 months in prison against the Assen man, NU.nl reports.
The former cop was also accused of showing his genitals to two of his daughter's friends. The girls were 10 and 12 years old at the time.
The Public Prosecutor added a charge of possession of child pornography against Jos B., the man already suspected of sexually abusing and killing 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen in Brunssummerheide in 1998. The 55-year-old man was reprimanded into another 90 days of custody by the court on Thursday, NU.nl reports.
A 45-year-old man from the municipality of Maasdriel is in custody on suspicion of sexually abusing at least five children and producing child pornography, was revealed during a private meeting for around 30 parents in the Kerkdriel town hall on Thursday evening, Omroep Gelderland reports.
The man was arrested on July 26th and he was remanded into custody for another 90 days earlier this month. After his arrest, the police searched his home and seized various items. According to the Public Prosecutor, five victims are known so far.
A 72-year-old man from Dronten, who is currently in custody on suspicion of sexually abusing children in the Philippines over a webcam, was caught with a USB stick full of child pornography in his cell. The stick was found in his toiletry bag, was revealed during a pro-forma hearing against the man, ANP reports.
Suspect Hans V. was arrested in April and has since been in custody. In addition to online sexual abuse of children, he is also suspected of making and possessing child pornography.
Lars de R., a guitarist suspected of child sex abuse in the Netherlands, is also being prosecuted in Belgium for making and distributing child pornography, RTL Nieuws reports.
The Dutch authorities transferred part of the investigation into De R., who was a finalist in Holland's Got Talent in 2009, to the Belgian authorities. This happened after the police in Belgium encountered a pseudonym in a child porn investigation that the Dutch police linked to De R.
The Dutch police team focused on investigating child pornography is so overworked and understaffed that thousands of child pornography reports go un-investigated, RTL Nieuws reports The Public Prosecutor, police unions, and victim lawyers call for police capacity to be increased.
