4 August 2009

Extreme child objectionable material on overseas vessels

Two seamen on a visiting cargo ship were convicted in North Shore District Court on Friday after being prosecuted by the New Zealand Customs Service for the importation of objectionable material involving extreme sexual exploitation of children.

Both men pled guilty and were each fined $2000 plus court costs. They were remanded in custody until the fines were paid. In excess of $3000 worth of laptops and other storage devices have been forfeited.

Customs Operations Manager Investigations, Dave Meredith, says this was a very pleasing result.

“This will hopefully send a clear message out to members of the seafaring community that this type of material is not acceptable in New Zealand.

“The images located on the accused's laptops are extreme and involve the sexual exploitation of very young children.

“Customs has often located adult material on visiting ships. However the interception of this kind of extreme objectionable material is of real concern.”

“In the past year Customs' Fraud and Prohibitions unit has referred 114 cases to our Computer Forensics unit. This involved 815 individual items. All were suspected to contain objectionable material.

“Customs has a zero tolerance policy towards this. It is a scourge on the community and we will do everything within our powers to prevent it coming into New Zealand.”

Shipping New Zealand Secretary, Bruce Heather says his organisation is giving Customs its full backing.

“Shipping New Zealand is fully supportive of Customs measures to stamp out any objectionable material on overseas vessels.

“We have already informed all of our member shipping companies of Customs earlier advice as to the consequences of foreign crew found in possession of such material,” he said.

Dave Meredith says investigating the importation of objectionable material involving both the sexual exploitation of children and the use of violence and coercion to compel sexual conduct is a high priority for Customs.

Customs works closely with outside agencies such as the Department of Internal Affairs and the Police in the investigation of these offences with each agency having its own specific area of focus.

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