16 Canadians arrested under Project Mercury

A total of 153 people have been arrested as part of Project Mercury, a joint effort involving the Toronto Police Service, Ottawa police, Saskatchewan RCMP, United States Homeland Security and U.K. National Crime Agency.

Of the 16 in Canada, 13 had been convicted. Seven arrests were made in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Belleville, Thunder Bay, Quebec, Edmonton, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Saskatoon.

Of those convicted, the sentences ranged from 30 months to 60 years, with many cases still before the courts.

The youngest victim was a 10-month-old.  

"It’s important to understand that this is happening to children all over the world," Toronto police Staff Supt. Myron Demkiw said at the news conference yesterday.

Police said that various social networking platforms were used by the suspects.

An undercover investigation was launched by Toronto police after the National Crime Agency in the UK alerted police agencies around the world in January 2015 of an online group using various social networking platforms to distribute child abuse material.

In July 2015, Toronto police witnessed a live-streaming event in which a six-year-old child was abused while others from around the world commented and directed the abuser.

The police said within hours the child was rescued and the abuser was caught in Pennsylvania. More than 20 other offenders were arrested, mainly in the US and UK.

"Unfortunately this was not the first time this happened, but I can tell you it was the last," Det. Const. Janelle Blackadar said.

Several other investigations had uncovered similar live-streaming events.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)