Child sex abuse arrests

Greater Manchester Police has arrested 40 suspected paedophiles in the biggest operation for more than ten years targeting online child abusers.

A junior paediatric doctor is among the suspects, according to details released by the National Crime Agency.

GMP charged Raza Laskar, 31, in May with sexual activities relating to a 15-year-old boy and possessing indecent images of children. He had worked in hospitals across Greater Manchester.

The operation targeted people accessing indecent images online with the focus on a number of people who had unsupervised access to children in the course of their work.

Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick said: "Greater Manchester Police has been working very closely with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on Operation Notarise.

"As a direct result of intelligence packages passed to Greater Manchester Police by the NCA, we have arrested more than 40 people and safeguarded 10 vulnerable children at risk of abuse.

"Many of those cases remain live investigations with a number of those arrested either on bail or charged, so I cannot go into great details about specific cases.

"What I would say is that this operation highlights the seriousness with which we and other law enforcement agencies take the issue of people viewing or downloading indecent images of children.

"This is absolutely not a victimless crime. People who download or possess these images are creating a market for child abusers to sell such grotesque images so anyone who views such images is propagating that abuse.

"Offenders need to also understand that the Internet is not a safe or anonymous place for viewing indecent images. These offenders leave a digital footprint and we will use all the technology at our disposal to find these people.

"This operation is all about protecting children who are victims of or at risk of sexual exploitation and bringing to justice anyone involved in victimising children. We will continue to make arrests of anyone involving in either taking or viewing indecent images and put those people before the courts."