Lisa Belanger of the Toronto police child exploitation section said many of the pictures and videos were shot in people's apartments, backyards and 'dingy saunas.' “(It was) very clearly child pornography, clearly children being sexually abused and/or exploited,” she said.ĭet. She said many of the victims were from Ukraine and Romania. She said Azov commissioned videographers around the world to take pictures and images that the company would subsequently distribute through the mail and online. Postal Inspection Service.That information was shared with Interpol, leading to arrests of customers around the world.īeaven-Desjardins said some of the children exploited in the films were as young as five.

For approximately $40, customers could buy about an hour of video, and receive photos at a discount, delivered online or by mail, police say.Īfter Way's arrest, Toronto authorities then spent months re-creating a customer database along with the U.S. Way was charged with multiple counts related to child pornography, including selling and distributing child pornography and instructing commission of offence for criminal organization.Īccording to police, the company had been operating since 2005 and had revenues in excess of $4 million. “This is equivalent to a stack of paper as tall as 1,500 CN Towers,” Beaven-Desjardins said. More than 45 terabytes of data were seized. Azov was shut down and its owner, 42-year-old Brian Way, was arrested. In 2011, police carried out a search warrant in Toronto’s west end. 'It's been an ongoing, worldwide investigation.'īeaven-Desjardins said Toronto police first became aware in 2010 that Toronto-based Azov Films was distributing pornographic images and videos of children as well as streaming them on its website. 'It's a first in terms of the magnitude of the victims saved,' head of the Toronto police's sex crimes unit Insp. Dubbed Project Spade, police said the effort resulted in 386 children being saved from exploitation. Police said the three-year investigation included Canadian and international law enforcement agencies.

Toronto police said Thursday that 348 people, including 108 Canadians, have been arrested in an international child pornography ring that was largely centred around a Toronto-based film company that distributed images and videos across the globe.

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