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The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has released new images giving the public a glimpse into the rooms where child sex abuse is perpetrated, in the hope it will lead to identification of the abused children.
- Four images were released showing frames inside homes linked to child exploitation.
- The AFP believes the children in the cases are now adults.
- The national website has received 908 tip-offs of child abuse, since 2021.
In four images, the AFP's victim identification specialists have released photos of two rooms, with distinctive curtains, wall paint, a bed frame, and a fireplace.
Acting Assistant Commissioner for the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), Helen Schneider said finding the children abused in the rooms had proven to be like finding a "needle in a haystack".
"These images are from older matters.
"We believe the child victims in these matters are now adults but we accept that the trauma of this kind of offending does not fade away," she said.
"Victim identification specialists have the painstaking task of going through images and videos frame-by-frame to identify anything that helps with the origin, location or the identity of a victim.”
The screenshots are from videos found on the dark web that the AFP has confirmed took place in Australia.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Schneider said the images contain clues that will help find victims and offenders.
"We want any information," she said.
"We want to hear it because every one of those images involves a real child who is being abused somewhere."
The blitz to identify the rooms comes at the start of National Child Protection Week, which asks the public to stop abuse by tracing the origin of objects on the ACCCE website.
The department's site, launched in March 2021, has since had 186,000 visits and generated 908 tip-offs.
"We're looking for people who might work in fields that might have greater exposure to housing locations," Acting Assistant Commissioner Schneider said.
The homes may have been visited by tradespeople, real estate agents or builders over the years.
Authorities say while no information is too small, the current owners may not be associated with any crimes committed but could form clues that could crack the case.