Mackay men arrested for alleged involvement in child abuse ring

Four people have now been arrested over an alleged child abuse ring, as shocking new details of their alleged crimes have come to light.

Four Mackay men have been arrested over an alleged child abuse ring.

Four people are now in custody accused of sexually exploiting four young children and grooming them via social media.

Three men, aged 19, 22 and 49, were arrested at a home south of Mackay on Friday morning.

A fourth allegedly fled the property but this afternoon handed himself in to police.

The 21-year-old man has been charged with eight offences

Police will allege the group of men used social media applications to contact and groom the victims, aged 12 to 15, over two years to produce and procure child exploitation material.

They also allegedly committed sexual offences directly against the children.

In response to an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers in early January, detectives began a complex operation to track down the alleged offenders and victims.

Detectives finalised the operation this morning after executing a search warrant at a Bakers Creek home where they found men aged 19, 22 and 49.

Mackay Detective Inspector Tom Armitt. Picture: Contributed

Mackay’s Child Protection and Investigation Unit led Operation Westmeath, a protracted investigation into the four men who are known to each other.

Police also seized several digital devices which will now undergo further forensic testing.

Four men – aged 19, 21, 22 and 49 – have been charged with a total of 27 offences between them.

The charges include rape, unlawful carnal knowledge, indecent treatment of a child, permitting abuse of children on premises, grooming, involving a child in the making of exploitation material, possessing child exploitation material, deprivation of liberty and breach of privacy.

They have been refused police bail and will appear in Mackay Magistrates Court.

Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said the fourth man ran when police executed a search warrant this morning.

He said an “extraordinary amount” of detective work went into tracking down the young people involved, elicit information and then track down their alleged perpetrators.

“These men (allegedly) used very simple grooming techniques via common social media apps to target their victims,” he said.

“We took action to make sure there was no ongoing offending. At the forefront of our minds was preventing further offending.”

Inspector Armitt said police had so far identified four alleged victims but officers were continuing to investigate to find any others involved.

“We will be continuing our investigations and attempting to identify all people involved but sometimes with social media whether those people exist in other jurisdictions or internationally, we don’t know,” he said.

Inspector Armitt said he urged parents to be aware of what their children were accessing online.

“Grooming is extremely difficult because sometimes those communications can appear as a friendly banter but it’s targeted conversation and targeted behaviour in order to elicit some form of action on behalf of the victim that leads down to procurement of child exploitation material,” he said.

“Some of that grooming can take extended periods of time ... slowly but surely testing children’s boundaries and moving past them.

“That’s what it is entirely designed to do and what may appear on the surface as friendly and charming banter may have a sinister element to it and people need to be aware of that.”

Investigations are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to come forward and speak with police.