INTERPOL CSAM crackdown nets 95 arrests in 17 countries

Police in 17 countries across Latin America and Europe have arrested 95 suspects in an INTERPOL-coordinated action against people distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through online messaging groups.

The joint effort, called International Effort Confluencia, combined four separate law enforcement operations carried out between March and September 2026. INTERPOL, the international police organization that supports cooperation between national forces, coordinated the work.

Investigators executed 127 search warrants during the operations. They also rescued a five-year-old child whose parent had been producing abuse material and selling it online.

"Effective cross-border cooperation between law enforcement and the private sector has never been more urgent," said Stephen Fry, Executive Director of INTERPOL Investigation Support.

"Behind every file is a child who was abused, and who is revictimized every time that image recirculates. Wherever offenders move, we have to move faster," he added.

Group admins, hoarders and an alleged extortionist

Several national cases show the range of offenders targeted.

In Ecuador, authorities identified a member of a CSAM-sharing group who held roughly 15GB of abuse images, spread across more than 4,000 files.

Police in Panama arrested the administrator of a group that circulated abusive material depicting children. The group had more than 700 users.

In Argentina, investigators arrested a suspect who was allegedly in contact with more than 260 girls around the world. According to INTERPOL, he threatened victims who tried to refuse his demands for increasingly explicit content. He now faces accusations of sextortion of minors, a form of blackmail in which offenders use threats to force victims into sending sexual images.

Messaging platforms at the center

INTERPOL pointed to the messaging platforms used to spread and sell the material as a core part of the problem.

"These platforms are increasingly used to groom children, coordinate abuse, connect offenders and receive payment for illegal content. They also enable the recirculation of abuse content, resulting in continued revictimization of children," the organization said.

The investigation is not over. INTERPOL said the material seized is expected to lead to more offenders and at-risk children being identified, and to further safeguarding action.

A string of earlier operations

Confluencia follows a series of international actions against CSAM networks over the past two years.

In February 2025, 25 suspects tied to a large criminal ring distributing AI-generated CSAM were arrested as part of Operation Cumberland.

In April 2025, German cybercrime prosecutors took down Kidflix, one of the largest CSAM platforms on the dark web. Investigators identified 1,393 suspects and made 79 additional arrests.

In June 2025, authorities from more than a dozen European and Latin American countries arrested 20 more suspects in a separate joint operation. That action also targeted the production and distribution of CSAM through instant messaging groups.

More recently, in March, a global action supported by Europol and named "Operation Alice" shut down more than 373,000 dark web sites that offered fake CSAM packages. That investigation had started in mid-2021.

The latest arrests also come shortly after the FBI and French police seized the NudeLeaksTeens sites, another case focused on abusive content involving minors.

Why It Matters

For readers who follow cybercrime enforcement, Confluencia fits a clear pattern. Much of this activity has moved from hidden dark web forums to mainstream messaging groups, where offenders can find each other, share files and take payments. The June 2025 operation and this one both targeted that channel, which suggests investigators now treat messaging groups as a primary hunting ground rather than a side issue.

The reliance on cooperation across many jurisdictions is also notable. As with other recent cases, such as the Qilin ransomware suspect sent from Japan to Germany, results depend on police forces and platforms sharing data quickly. INTERPOL's call for closer work with the private sector points in the same direction.

It is worth watching whether the seized material leads to the follow-up identifications INTERPOL expects, and whether messaging providers face more pressure to detect and report such groups. How that pressure is balanced against user privacy and encryption is likely to remain a contested question.