anywhere in the world
Palma police have reported the arrest of a Spanish national suspected of significant corruption of minors. The suspect was found in possession of audiovisual material involving children and was connected to a broader operation named PENEV aimed at dismantling a network distributing such material. The case marks a major step in the authorities’ ongoing efforts to combat online child exploitation.
The investigation was led by the Police Technological Crime and Economic Crime Group, units dedicated to monitoring online activity and taking down networks that could be used to share illegal content. Their work centers on maintaining vigilance over the Internet to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse materials and to identify individuals involved in such crimes.
In Palma, authorities intensified their inquiries after information emerged about a person residing in the city. Cooperation was sought from the central cybercrime and protection of minors division, part of Madrid’s police structure, to participate in the broader investigation and coordinate actions across jurisdictions.
As investigators examined file-sharing networks commonly used to distribute illicit content, they traced activity on peer-to-peer networks. The police confirmed that these platforms enable users to exchange a broad range of files, including videos, images, music, programs, and documents, with no geographic limitations.
10,000 files
The Palma team sustained cyber patrols and kept monitoring the networks to detect ongoing distributions of prohibited material. Through these efforts, a suspect based in Palma was identified as actively downloading and distributing a large volume of files containing pedophile content.
The investigation culminated in a prolonged search operation at the suspect’s residence, following a court order. The search aimed to recover evidence and seize any material related to the case, given the breadth of the alleged offenses.
The operation yielded a substantial amount of evidence after hours of meticulous searching. Officials seized multiple devices, including several laptops, a half-dozen hard drives, USB storage units, and a large collection of CDs, along with a desktop computer and additional drives from the home. While the suspect attempted to delete many files, investigators still recovered access to a substantial library of material.
The recovered files included numerous pornographic images and videos involving minors. Among them, thousands were deemed serious in terms of child sexual content, including a significant subset categorized as sadomasochistic material. The scale of the content confirmed the severity of the case and indicated extensive involvement with distributing illegal material.
Following the evidence seizure, authorities moved to arrest the owner of the material, charging the individual with corruption of minors due to the distribution of child pornography. The case highlights ongoing efforts by law enforcement to dismantle networks and bring to account those who facilitate the exploitation of children online.