A large display case dedicated to Star Wars presided over the gaming room that the young man had set up in his parents' house.. The closest thing to a geeky altar in which stood out a complete suit of an imperial soldier that was surrounded by multiple models of the George Lucas saga. And at its side, a multi-screen computer system and numerous computer file storage devices. This was the operations center of an alleged pedophile whose National Police seized “several tons” of compromised images that he kept at his home in Almería.. One of the 121 arrested in one of the most important investigations carried out in our country against this type of crimes.

Sources close to the case explained to this newspaper that the capture of this individual was the outcome of a long period of work that began with a notice from the FBI liaison unit at the United States embassy in Madrid.. The agents received data from their data center that identified a significant number of people in Spain who were “sharing, uploading or downloading” pedophile audiovisual material from the Internet..

This information, which had been compiled and made available to the authorities by a North American NGO against child exploitation, marked the beginning of a global hunt to which the Group VI of Technological Crimes of the Judicial Police Brigade of the Police Station joined. Provincial of Almeria. The information sent to the agents of this unit pointed to a person who had allegedly distributed four files. “In that world, when someone has uploaded four videos, the most likely thing is that there are really 400,000,” comment the sources consulted, who added that the operators were asked for data that would allow the exact location of the suspect..

The police investigations led to a property located in the La Rambla area of the capital of Almeria. A couple and their son lived there, who had apparently returned to his parents' home after a period of living alone. The guy didn't do much of a social life. It was known that he had a job related to computing and that “he spent a lot of time at home.” A lifestyle that complicated investigations.

When the agents entered the house with a court order, the suspect showed some surprise because “he was not expecting it.” It is something that did not surprise the researchers. What's more, it is a common response. “They think they are smarter than us and they think they will never be discovered.” But they are wrong.

The search of the house focused on the gaming room in which the individual apparently spent many hours of the day.. There, among expensive collector's items, such as a Nazgûl helmet from The Lord of the Rings, or an AT-AT vehicle like those first seen in The Empire Strikes Back, they discovered a series of storage devices that amounted to “several terabytes” in which extremely hard pedophile material was discovered. “Sexual assaults on babies and recordings of minors with animals,” they describe.

These recordings served for the judicial authority to order the person under investigation to be placed in preventive detention, although those responsible for the case took “several months” to analyze all the material that was seized from him.. The amount of files he accumulated was such that it was not a relief that he was “meticulous” and had organized them by folders and keys for identification according to the subject..

The result of this study work was a judicial report that was sent to the court. The aforementioned sources recall that the arrested man “went off” when he was detained, but “he never broke down.”. “He was silent”.

Operation Cíclope, as this case was called, has been one of the dozens and dozens carried out by the National Police within a general investigation that – after years of investigations – has resulted in the capture of 121 pedophiles in different parts from the country.

In the 125 searches carried out, 368 hard drives, 114 USB flash drives, 100 DVDs, 60 computers and other computer equipment were seized.. 500 terabytes of extremely hardcore pornographic content starring minors.