Less than seven years after Interpol set up its International Child Sexual Exploitation database, the global crime buster has identified and rescued a 10,000th child victim, it said Monday. Using the world-wide database, investigators analyse millions of images found on suspects' computers or spotted on the internet. The system's sophisticated software compares photos and videos, allowing investigators to identify abusers and locations.

"The scale of this crime is shocking, made worse by the fact that these images can be shared online globally at the touch of a button and can exist forever," said Interpol chief Juergen Stock. "Each time an image or video clip is shared or viewed, the child is being re-victimised," he said. Analysis of the digital, visual and audio content of files is another way of finding clues, determining when cases overlap and pooling efforts to locate victims.

Police services in 49 of Interpol's 190 member states are connected 24/7 to the ICSE database. In June 2015, a man in his 40s was arrested in the south-western French town of Ariege after he posted pornographic pictures of his 10-year-old niece on the internet. His detention was triggered on the other side of the world where New Zealand police had just entered the photos into the Interpol database after infiltrating a discussion forum.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017