Queensland Police are set to extradite a New Zealand man on Thursday to face charges relating to the sexual abuse of a child and his alleged involvement in an international child sex offender network.
The extradition comes as part of Taskforce Argos, which was launched in 1997 and combined the forces of Australian and international police in uncovering the online activities of two Australian men posting explicit content of child exploitation onto a device belonging to the 42-year-old New Zealand man.
The investigation found that the two men had solicited a child they claimed to have adopted from a Russian surrogate mother for the intent of sexual exploitation and abuse as part of a global network of child sex offenders, according to a statement released by Queensland Police on Thursday.
In February 2012, both Australian men, aged 46 and 39, were arrested while on a trip to the United States and charged with conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and the sexual exploitation of a child.
The 46-year-old man was sentenced to 40 years in a US jail and the 39-year-old man sentenced to 30 years. Throughout the investigations, devices belonging to the men were seized and chat logs, images and video were obtained by police showing the New Zealand man engaging in sexual abuse of the child and taking indecent images.
He was arrested in August 2016 and will be extradited to Brisbane to face nine charges of the indecent treatment of a child under the age of 12 in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court on Friday.
"This arrest closes the final chapter on a protracted and difficult investigation that has resulted in the arrest of members of a child sex offender network that spanned the globe," Detective Inspector Jon Rouse said.
"It is testimony to the dedication and commitment of Queensland Police child protection investigators."
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