A New Zealand Customs Service investigation has resulted in a prison sentence for a 23-year-old Christchurch man.

The defendant was convicted for possessing, distributing and exporting objectionable material which depicted the sexual abuse of children. He has been placed on the child sex offender register.

Customs received a referral from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) after an overseas-based social media platform alleged a New Zealander had exported objectionable publications to their platform.

Customs identified and arrested the man after a search warrant at his home in Wigram in April this year, seizing his electronic device.

Forensics specialists established he had stored child sexual abuse material on a cloud storage account and shared videos and images depicting child sexual abuse, including that of infants and toddlers, on social media via private messages.

Chief Customs Officer – Child Exploitation Operations Team, Simon Peterson, said Customs is dedicated to identifying and prosecuting offenders for these serious criminal offences.

“This is not harmless crime. The man had extremely disturbing files which included depictions of violence and the sexual torture of real children. Our investigators are committed to combating the proliferation of this awful material across our borders, which has a very real, profound and enduring impact on the victimised children,” Peterson said.

“Customs and our partners at police and the Department of Internal Affairs work closely together at the border and within our communities to protect and safeguard children from abuse,” he said.

The man was sentenced to three years and two months’ jail at the Christchurch District Court today.