Detectives from the USA and Europe searched for eight children who were deported from Ukraine by the Russians – mass media

Detectives from the USA and Europe searched for eight children who were deported from Ukraine by the Russians – mass media

[ad_1]

An international group of detectives led by the Dutch police and Europol traced the whereabouts of eight Ukrainian children who were deported by the Russians. Open digital sources helped them in this.

Six non-governmental organizations and about 60 detectives and investigators from 23 countries, including Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain and the USA, participated in the operation to search for kidnapped Ukrainian children, writes the Dutch publication AD.

The operation was carried out at the headquarters of Europol in The Hague. The children were searched using satellite images, facial recognition systems, geolocation and other digital methods.

According to Vincent Cillessen, head of the international crime division of the National Investigation Department of the Dutch police, such cooperation between international specialists in the field of digital open sources has not yet taken place. For the first time, they united precisely to search for information about the abduction of children from Ukraine.

Photo: Nastyaofly/Depositphotos

“We did not expect that this first joint hackathon (an event during which different specialists in the field of software development work together to solve a problem – ed.) would immediately give results.

We wanted to learn from each other and share skills, but people immediately picked up on it. Given the success, we want to do it more often, at least once a year.”– explained Vincent Cillessen.

In open online sources, detectives searched for data that would help them determine the exact location of the eight deported children. They used advanced facial recognition to find the most recent images of the children, and geolocation experts pinpointed the locations where they had been photographed.

Detectives claim that the eight kidnapped children are orphans, they were forcibly taken to Russian-occupied territories and are being held there for propaganda purposes. For security reasons, information about the children was not made public, but was handed over to the Ukrainian authorities.

“We hope that the Ukrainians will be able to do something about it and return these children. But without knowing where these children are, they cannot start this process,” – Vincent Cillessen, a member of the search team, emphasized.

It will be recalled that a boy suffering from diabetes, who was kidnapped by the occupiers, was returned from Crimea.

Read also: If every day to return one Ukrainian child who was taken to the Russian Federation, it would take 55 years – ombudsman

[ad_2]

Original Source Link