Child porno industry has global volume of $20 billion

LAHORE: The ongoing investigation into the Kasur district child abuse scam might well lead to the unearthing of the first organised children pornography racket in Pakistan, meaning thereby that this heinous case might just not involve the sexual assault of the helpless kids and the consequent blackmailing of their unfortunate parents by the alleged paedophiles.
The global volume of the child porno industry was calculated at $20 billion in 2006 by an American Senator Joe Barton.
(Reference: The April 18, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal)
It was in 2006 that the “New York Times” had also calculated that the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet was a $20 billion industry that continued to expand in the United States and abroad.
Meanwhile, a US Consulting firm McKinsey & Company had conducted a study, which had placed the child-porn industry at $6 billion in 1999 and $20 billion in 2004.
The Council of Europe, a France-based human-rights watchdog, had estimated that the volume of this shameful trade was resting between $3 billion and $20 billion.
All stories of child abuse are scary enough to send chills down anyone’s spine and provide a glimpse into the twisted minds and worlds of these perverts, rapists, child molesters and sexual predators, who are present everywhere in the world.
But sometimes, these cruel child molesters get the timely treatment they thoroughly deserve.
Quite recently, as numerous Western newspapers and media outlets had widely reported, a Brazilian man Daryell Dickson Xavier was arrested after he had beaten up and raped his 20-month old step son. The child was hospitalised and died just two days later.
Soon after Xavier was sent behind bars, he was just as brutally raped by a squad of 20 of his fellow inmates—-a classic case of vigilante justice!
He was again sent to jail after medical treatment, and was again subjected to the same treatment.
Despite the fact that many of these dangerous men have been executed in countries including Pakistan, India, United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China etc, they continue to surface every now and then.
Many Pakistanis hailing from the younger generation might not know that about 35 years ago, during the Martial Law of General Ziaul Haq, a child by the name of Pappu was killed and his brutal killers were hanged in public at Chauburji Chowk, Lahore.
It is a recorded fact, backed by archival research, that for many months there was no major crime committed in Lahore.
The unfortunate Pappu’s three weeping sisters had sat in the front row to witness the capital punishment.
While we all know about Javed Iqbal the barbarian, who had killed over 100 kids in Lahore and had dissolved their bodies in acid.
He was sentenced to death, along with his key accomplice Sajid Ahmad, by the court after the prosecution had produced 105 witnesses, including 73 family members of the missing children.
But on the morning of the October 8, 2001, Javed Iqbal and his accomplice Sajid Ahmad were found dead in their cell in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison.
They had apparently committed suicide by hanging themselves with bedsheets, though there was speculation that they were murdered. Autopsies revealed that they had been beaten prior to death. But since nobody had any sympathy with the culprits, none had bothered to pay any attention to the cause of their deaths.
Throughout the two-month trial, parents of the missing children had gathered outside the courtroom, calling for the death sentence.
While some female American celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, distinguished singer Lady Gaga and actress Rita Hayworth claimed they were raped in their childhoods, many famous personalities have either been found guilty of sexually assaulting minors or are facing trials.
On November 19, 2014, Terry Bean, a power player in American politics, a prominent fund-raiser for President Obama and a leading figure in the gay rights movement, was arrested on charges of sodomy and sex abuse in a case involving a 15-year-old boy.
Bean had sought to keep the allegations about the video recordings quiet and tried to reach a $40,000 settlement, but a judge had rejected the deal and ruled criminal charges should be pursued because an adult shouldn’t be allowed to sidestep child sexual abuse allegations by compensating a victim.
On August 8, 2015, a court had postponed the sex abuse trial of Terry Bean to give investigators more time to track down the alleged victim, who had gone into hiding.
The trial will now start on September 1.
(Reference: An Associated Press report of August 8, 2015)
In January 2013, the London Metropolitan Police had stated that over 450 people had made complaints against Sir James Vincent Savile, a prominent BBC television anchorperson, who had raised an estimated £40 million for various charities through his marathon shows.
These complaints had surfaced after the BBC presenter’s death in 2011. The London police said the period of the anchorperson’s alleged abuse stretched from 1955 to 2009 and the ages of the complainants at the time of the assaults had ranged from eight to 47. According to the police, the suspected victims included 28 children aged under 10, including 10 boys aged as young as eight. A further 63 were girls aged between 13 and 16 and nearly three-quarters of his victims were under 18.
Some 214 criminal offences, including 34 rapes, were recorded.
(References: BBC News report of January 11, 2013 and a Sky News report of February 2013)
Former World Boxing champion Mike Tyson also stands tall among the rapists breathing on this planet.
In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping an 18-year old girl, Desiree Washington, in July 1991 in a hotel room and was sentenced to six years in prison, but was released after serving three years.
Tyson’s rape trial had taken place in the Indianapolis courthouse from January 26, 1992 to February 10, 1992.
An affluent American business tycoon, John Wayne Gacy, had developed a penchant for raping and torturing teenage boys.
The US law enforcement officials had discovered a total of 28 bodies in Gacy’s home. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a lethal injection in 1994.
Renowned Hollywood actor, Bill Cosby, was also accused by multiple women (including teen-age girls) of sexual assault.
Great pop-star Michael Jackson had also faced similar allegations. In 1993, he was accused of molesting a 13-year old boy, Evan Chandler. In January 1994, Jackson had reached a financial settlement with the victim’s to resolve the matter and in September, a criminal investigation was closed due to lack of evidence.
Five months after Jackson’s death, Evan Chandler had killed himself on November 5, 2009, in his apartment in Jersey City.
In 2004, the globally-acclaimed singer was indicted for four counts of molesting a minor Gavin Arvizo, four counts of intoxicating the boy in order to molest him, one count of attempted child molestation, and one count of conspiring to hold the child and his family captive at his 2,700-acre estate. Michael Jackson was also charged with committing extortion and child abduction.
He had surrendered himself to California police. Driven by police to the Santa Barbara County Jail, he had emerged from the police vehicle in handcuffs. On April 5, 2005, Jackson had posted a $3,000,000 bail bond by paying a bond fee of $300,000.
The prosecution had alleged that Jackson showed pornography to children. However, on June 13, 2005, the jury had found Jackson not guilty on all 14 charges.
From outside the courtroom, 2,200 reporters had covered the trial. According to the August 5, 2014 edition of the “Daily Telegraph,” a male Australian choreographer Wade Robson had claimed the singer had raped him from age seven to 14.
He alleged the molestation took place at the late singer’s Santa Barbara County ranch and other locations in the from 1990 until 1997, although Jackson’s estate lawyers had called the accusations outrageous and pathetic.
The accusations had surfaced after Michael Jackson’s death.
Eminent French film director, producer, writer and actor, Roman Polanski, was arrested for the rape of a 13-year old girl at Los Angeles in 1977 and had pled guilty to the charge of having sex with a minor.
To avoid sentencing, Polanski had fled in 1978 to his home in London, eventually settling in France.
More than 32 years later, in September 2009, he was temporarily arrested by Swiss police at the request of United States authorities, who unsuccessfully asked for his extradition.
However, in July 2010, the Swiss court had rejected the American request and had released Polanski from custody. Quite recently in May 2014, some 70 people in New York City were charged after using the Internet to collect and trade child porn. Those charged included a nurse, a paramedic, a police officer, a police chief, a rabbi and a Boy Scout leader.
Officials said it was one of the largest-ever initiatives seeking such predators. A five-week investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations arm of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued 87 search warrants and seized nearly 600 desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smart phones and other devices - with more than 175 terabytes of data, including videos and nude pictures of children.
(Reference: The May 22, 2014 reports of the Washington Post and BBC)
In 1985, Frank Fuster of Florida was found guilty of 14 counts of abuse and sentenced to a prison sentence with a minimum of 165 years. He had been previously convicted for manslaughter and for fondling a 9-year-old child.
In United States, Carl Panzram had raped and killed more than 1,000 men, including young boys. He was hanged to death in 1930.
Another American serial killer, Albert Fish, had molested many children, particularly young boys and an eight year-old girl, whom he subsequently ate. Fish was executed by electric chair in 1936.
Yet another American rapist, Jeffrey Dahmer, would pick up most of his victims at gay bars, rape and kill them. He was later convicted of 15 murders and was murdered in prison in 1994.
In India, a security guard named Dhananjoy Chatterjee (1965-2004), was executed in August 2004 by hanging for the rape and murder of a 14-year old Gujarati girl Hetal Parekh in Kolkata in March 1999.
The Supreme Court of India and the then Indian President Dr. Abdul Kalam had rejected his mercy pleas. The family had refused to either attend the execution or claim his body.
Chatterjee’s name had echoed in the walls of judicial system of India for 14 long years
In another similar case, an Indian businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli currently stand convicted of five murders.
The duo was sentenced to death, but their sentences were reduced to life imprisonments upon appeal in September 2014.
In January 2015, the Chinese public had unanimously supported the execution of Li Jishun, who had abused 26 children in one year.
A Colombian serial killer and rapist, Luis Alfredo Garavito, had killed 138 people, mostly street children.
Hre was sentenced to 1,853 years, but could only be imprisoned for 30 which was reduced to 22 after aiding investigators.
Another Colombian, Pedro Lopez, had targeted young girls between the ages of 8 and 12.
He was arrested in 1980 and convicted in 1983 of killing 110 young girls, but had actually confessed to killing 300.
He was released in 1998 for reasons unknown.
Yet another Colombian rapist, Daniel Barbosa, is believed to have possibly raped and killed over 150 victims, primarily young girls. He had confessed to killing 72 victims only.
He was arrested, but had managed to escape from prison.
After making good his escape, he had again started killing in Ecuador, but was rearrested in 1989 and killed in jail.
A Ukranian/ Russian rapist Andrei Chikatilo, was convicted of the murder of 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990. He was executed in 1994.
Aerhiy Tkach, a former Ukrainian police criminal investigator, was found guilty of suffocating girls aged between 8 and 18 and performed sexual acts on their bodies after they were dead. He had claimed to have killed 100. The court had sentenced him to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of 36 women and girls over more than two decades.
An Indonesian serial rapist-cum-killer, Ahmad Suradji, was convicted of strangling at least 42 women and girls in a series of ritual slayings. He was executed by a firing squad in July 2008.