A Sydney man who entered Australia with an inbound travel exemption was raided at a Covid-19 quarantine hotel after allegedly smuggling in child abuse material from the United States.
Australian Border Force (ABF) confirmed the 73-year-old was just one of more than a dozen people allegedly caught trying to bring child abuse photos and videos into Australia during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Australian citizen returned to Sydney airport from the US on September 13 last year. ABF officers were already on alert for possible possession of the horrific child abuse material.
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READ NOWThey searched his baggage and confiscated his laptop before he was escorted to a Sydney hotel to complete his mandatory 14-week Covid-19 quarantine period.
Child abuse material was then allegedly found during a forensic examination of the laptop.
ABF investigators and NSW Police officers then raided the Sydney hotel where the man was staying on September 27.
The man was arrested and his electronic devices seized. He has been charged and is in custody.
The detection of child abuse material was one of more than 240 among travellers arriving in Australia since the country shut its border in March last year.
Fifteen travellers attempting to get into Australia have been deported and had their temporary visas cancelled by Australian Border Force officers
Thirteen cases of child abuse material, including cases of importations of childlike sex dolls, were referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said enforcement at the country’s borders would remain tough despite a reduction of travellers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Australians can be assured that the Border Force and the Federal Police are alert to this abhorrent crime and are making it as hard as possible for people to create child abuse material, possess it or travel across an international border with it,” she said.
“As the results show, this work has not stopped during the pandemic.”
ABF received more than 22,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation in the last financial year.
Officers arrested 195 people and laid more than 2700 charges for alleged child abuse-related offences.