Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala police have arrested 12 persons from across the state in simultaneous raids and registered 142 cases besides seizing 270 electronic devices for allegedly viewing and sharing objectionable contents related to children as part of its crackdown on child pornography.

The arrested include youngsters working in professional jobs and tech experts, police said.

The tenth Special drive, of Kerala Police CCSE (Countering Child Sexual Exploitation) Team titled, P-Hunt 23.1, had identified around 858 locations throughout the State and culprits were booked in a covert operation, police said in a release.

"Under the operational supervision of the District SPs, simultaneous raids were conducted throughout the State, on Sunday the 26th February 2023, from early morning onwards. The raids were highly successful and as a part of the operation, the teams could seize 270 devices in 142 cases registered- which include mobile phones, modems, hard disks, memory cards, laptops, computers etc. with graphic and illegal videos and pictures of children," the release said.

Police said some of the arrested persons are suspected to be involved in the trafficking of children also as there are many chats to this effect in their devices.

The details of the rest of the people involved in circulating these images and videos are being further collected.

As per law, viewing, distributing or storing of any child pornographic content is a criminal offence and can result in, up to five years of imprisonment and up to Rs 10 lakh fine.

Police sought the support of the society and urged the public to report such channels or groups that spread child sex-related content with the CCSE or Cyberdome or Cyber cells at the earliest.