CANADA
The Globe and Mail
TU THANH HA
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Nov. 14 2013
A Canadian company raked in $4-million from the sale of images of nude Eastern European boys, Toronto police said on Thursday, revealing details of a major international child-pornography investigation that rescued hundreds of victims.
The company, Toronto-based Azov Films, sold mail-order DVDs and streamed online videos of naked boys from Germany, Romania and Ukraine, which it marketed as naturist movies and claimed were legal in Canada and the United States.
After three years of investigation, 348 suspects were arrested in dozens of countries around the world, from Australia to Sweden to Mexico.
Sources say the investigation identified 10 to 15 children in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, who modelled for photographers connected with Azov.
In addition, police said, as Azov clients were identified around the world, police found other children who were within reach to those customers and were either physically abused or recorded in illicit videos.
At least 386 minors were removed from harm’s way, said Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, commander of the Toronto police sex crimes unit.
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