An American citizen employed with a multinational law firm was arrested for allegedly circulating pornographic videos and images involving minors in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The cybercrime wing of the Telangana Crime Investigation Department (CID) said 42-year-old James Kirk Jones, a resident of Madhapur, was apprehended on the basis of an Interpol alert that the pornographic material was being circulated through a certain IP address located in the city.
A search of Jones’ residence led to the seizure of a lot of incriminating material, including a laptop containing 29,288 pornographic videos and images, 490 profiles on GigaTribe (a data-sharing application), and 24 Twitter handles used for posting the objectionable material online.
An external hard drive and an iPhone containing adult pornography were also confiscated.
Jones reportedly told the police that he has been downloading, watching and sharing child pornography since his childhood in the United States.
The CID registered a case under Section 67 A&B of the Information Technology Act-2000, and launched a probe into Jones’ activities in India. He has been remanded in judicial custody.