How a team of South Australian cops brought a monster to justice — and saved dozens of exploited children around the world
They didn’t just take down Australia’s worst sex offender. This team of Adelaide police officers helped smash a global child exploitation ring — and saved 50 kids so far from unimaginable torment.
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- How The Advertiser broke the story of the vile sex tourist
- No remorse: Court told Tokputza is Australia’s worst sex criminal
- Record penalty: 40-year prison term for sex tourist Tokputza
The prosecution of Australia’s worst sex criminal, Adelaide man Ruecha Tokputza, has sparked investigations around the world, rescued children from abuse and put predators — including his boyfriend — behind bars.
Today, The Advertiser can reveal the tireless work of SA’s Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (JACET) has not only secured Tokputza’s record 40-year jail term, but had global impact.
Evidence collected by the joint SA Police and Australian Federal Police team during the Tokputza case has helped Interpol, Europol and law enforcement agencies in 60 countries including the US, Thailand and New Zealand to:
IDENTIFY and rescue 50 child sex abuse victims from harm in Thailand.
DISCOVER 100 more victims worldwide being targeted for rescue.
ARREST and imprison nine offenders including Tokputza’s boyfriend Suthipong “Pack” Saleesongsom, who will serve 35 years in a Thai jail.
Another criminal, website administrator Montri Salangam, was jailed for 146 years.
Detective Brevet Sergeant Stephen Hegarty and Federal Agents Danielle Leske and Jonathon Coats from JACET said international co-operation was the key to success.
“This has been the highlight of our careers, working with investigators overseas who are so passionate about and dedicated to saving kids from abuse,” Agent Coats said.
“We never know where offenders that interest us will be and, if our peers overseas come across anything pertaining to SA, they know who to call.”
Sgt Hegarty agreed, saying there were no longer any borders when it came to protecting children around the world.
“Up until five years ago there was resistance to sharing information, but nowadays co-operation is the ethos,” he said.
“Our focus may be on the protection of children in SA but if there’s a nexus with crimes overseas then we will hunt you down and we will catch you.”
Tokputza, 31, will serve a minimum 28 years’ jail for abusing 13 children, some as young as 15 months old, over a six-year period.
It is the longest prison term in Australian history imposed for a single course of child-sex offending — his crimes, the District Court heard, were “without comparison”.
But Tokputza first came to JACET's attention not because of physical abuse but internet use.
In November 2017, a Thai and Interpol operation codenamed “Blackwrist” discovered Tokputza’s IP address was linked to Salangam’s website and asked JACET to investigate.
The trio subsequently uncovered Tokputza’s offending against one child in Australia, and a second in Thailand, from images on his mobile phone.
Their resultant investigation, codenamed “Bayldon”, would trawl through almost 900,000 images, videos and computer files to reveal his six-year spree.
On Thursday, Sgt Hegarty said there was only one way to describe Tokputza.
“He’s a pure sociopath as far as I’m concerned … offenders will usually ‘give’ something, even if it’s false, but he doesn’t even try,” he said.
“There is no emotion from him, and that has never changed in any of my dealings with him, from day one through to his last day in court.”
Agent Coats said it should come as no shock that an Adelaide case could affect the rest of the world.
“We are never surprised at what we come across in this line of work, we’ve all been doing this for the better part of a decade,” he said.
“We are never surprised by the depths of human depravity that we come across … the fact it’s happening in Adelaide just makes us hungrier and more ready to go.”
Unlike fellow offender Shannon McCoole, who was administrator of his child exploitation website, Tokputza never occupied a “position of power” in the predator world.
His evidentiary value came in the form of hundreds of thousands of online chats in which he swapped vile images and videos to others.
That data helped investigators track down offenders, and rescue victims, in their own jurisdictions.
“When people think of countries like Thailand, the stereotype is their police aren’t as passionate as us,” Sgt Hegarty said.
“There’s a misconception that ‘they’re all apathetic over there’ — and nothing could be further from the truth.
“They are just as passionate and just as capable as us and there is a real thirst and passion for doing this work.”
He said that shared sense of purpose united child exploitation investigators around the world.
“Child exploitation is not a victimless crime and rescuing children is our core focus,” he said.
“That, ultimately, is why we all do this job … it’s what gives you motivation.”
Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock said the arrests should send a clear message to criminals.
“Every child abuse image is evidence of a crime — we see you and you will be brought to justice,” he said.
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