General
Former NT executive caught in international child abuse material ring
On an August morning last year just before 7:00am, detectives from the Australian Federal Police and Northern Territory Police knocked on the door of a unit in an up-market Darwin suburb.
Key points:
- Mark Friend was sentenced to seven years in prison on five charges relating to child abuse material
- He was caught after extensive investigations in the United States into international child abuse rings
- In 2020, the Australian Federal Police received 21,000 reports of child sexual exploitation, up from 14,000 last year
Warning: this story contains details that may distress some readers
According to court documents, five days earlier US investigators had tipped off senior Australian police officials that the middle-aged man living in that unit…
Continue Reading