Police in Japan have taken action against 99 people age 14 to 72 years in the country as part of an international crackdown on online child sexual abuse material, the National Police Agency said Monday.
The 99 people included 25 junior high school and high school students in cases including sharing explicit images of classmates with friends.
A total of 445 people were arrested or investigated in March and April in the international initiative that involved authorities in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Brunei and Malaysia. Japan joined the cooperative framework called Operation Cyber Guardian last year.
In Japan, police who were acting on intelligence from Singapore took action against a man suspected of making child sexual abuse material accessible online. Japanese police provided intelligence obtained through cyber patrol activities to overseas counterparts.
