Four Alberta men arrested for child sex exploitation

A province-wide crackdown has resulted in 60 charges being laid against 24 suspects of child sexual exploitation.

According to the ALERT Internet Child Exploitation unit, there has been a record number of case referrals with a 40% increase in cases last year alone . In total, this amounts to over 2,100 intakes. ALERT has received a boost provincial funding, which it will use to add "more investigators, forensic technicians, analysts and disclosure clerks as well as some new technology."

Arrests happened between January 1st and March 31st and included two men from Medicine Hat, one from Fort Macleod and one from Okotoks. There is no link as of yet between the 24 suspects.

The agency’s CEO, Supt. Dwayne Lakusta, affirms that ALERT is “prepared to travel to every corner of the province in order to stop child sex predators.”