A Toronto man has been arrested for allegedly running one of the biggest child pornography rings detectives said they've seen to date.
A three-year investigation conducted by the Toronto Police revealed 41-year-old Brian Way's reported ownership of Azovfilms.com, a website that solicited hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and video. Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, who heads up the Toronto police's sex crimes sector, told Toronto Star News that the material found on the website showed "horrific acts of sexual abuse - some of the worst [officers] have seen."
Toronto authorities made the announcement on Thursday during a meeting attended by officials from Ontario, Canada, the United States, Spain, Mexico and Australia.
The probe, known as Project Spade, resulted in the arrest of 108 Canadian citizens, along with 76 people from the United States who were involved in online illegal sex crimes with children. 348 perpetrators were arrested around the globe.
Way has been charged with about dozen crimes, including the creation, possession, distribution and sale of sexual content featuring boys ranging from toddler to teen age. Police believed that Way was running the entire operation out of his Toronto warehouse - editing, packaging and selling videos and images with a small crew in the city's west side. Police raided both the headquarters and Way's residence, where they found a thousand pieces of evidence, including computers, DVD burners, hundreds of child porn movies and a video editing suite, the Star reported.
A Toronto teacher, a priest, a Quebec Scout leader and retired principal in Nova Scotia are among the reported customers of the site. Some police officers, doctors and educators were also arrested in connection with Azovfilms.com in the United States.
Police said that the site was relatively advanced, with an interface similar to that of Amazon's - customers could scroll through reviews submitted by other customers, along with lists detailing the top choices available on the site. The site also had a corresponding legal page that maintained the films followed proper legal channels.
"No film we sell violates Canadian or American law," a message on the site's main page read.
In order to pursue this case, law enforcement officials must prove that the material on the website was done with an artistic edge in mind, rather than for a sexual end.
© 2025 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
