Police used hacking power to arrest child abuse suspect

The Dutch police have used their hacking power to arrest a suspect in a major case involving child abuse material. The Digital Intrusion Team hacked into several devices belonging to a 46-year-old suspect.

The investigation into the 46-year-old Zaandammer started at the end of 2021 after a tip from the American police. The National Unit received a tip about a man suspected of ‘holding a prominent position within an organized group’ that would operate an online chat platform for child abuse material. The group would also manage websites containing such material.

The Digital Intrusion Team of the Special Operations Service deployed the hacking powers that the police have had since the Computer Crime Act III, writes the police. This was done after permission from the examining magistrate. According to the police, it was necessary to use that power because the man ‘protected his actions very well from the outside world and digitally secured heavily’.

The police hacked ‘various devices’ of the suspect. This allowed the team to ‘get a comprehensive picture of the extent of the criminal activities of the suspect’. It is not known how the hack took place. After the hack, it also turned out that the man had taken several measures to try to prevent the police from obtaining material, but it is not known what measures these are.

The Computer Crime Act III came into force in March 2019. The law was controversial; it gave police permission to hack into devices such as computers or smartphones remotely in some cases. The police were also given the opportunity to buy hacking tools. This power is not often used. In the annual report on the law of 2021 shows how the police used the power 28 times in a year, but in some investigations multiple permissions had to be given for one case.