Japan police uncover ‘online paedophile group’ of teachers
Two primary school teachers have been arrested for taking and sharing indecent photos of girls, sparking a nationwide search for accomplices
On Tuesday, police arrested Yuji Moriyama, 42, a teacher at Kosaka Elementary School in Nagoya, and Fumiya Kosemura, 37, a teacher at Hongodai Elementary School in Yokohama.
Around 70 indecent photographs and video clips were found on Moriyama’s computer, along with up-skirt images and deepfake composite images that combined children’s heads with other sexualised pictures, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting the Aichi prefectural police. Some appeared to have been taken in school.
Both men admitted the charges, police said.
The investigation has now turned to identifying the other members of the “online paedophile group” who also received the images. Early investigations suggest the group was managed by Moriyama and was made up of primary and junior high school teachers with a similar fondness for pornographic images of very young girls.
In Japan, the ages of primary and junior high school children range from six to 15.