Several cruise ship crew members, including some connected to a Disney Cruise Line vessel, were reportedly detained in April during a federal investigation into child s3xual abuse material offences.
According to a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, officers boarded eight cruise ships in San Diego between April 23 and April 27 as part of an ongoing Child Sexual Exploitation Material enforcement operation.
Authorities said officers interviewed 28 crew members, including 26 individuals from the Philippines, one from Portugal and one from Indonesia.
Following the investigation, officials alleged that 27 of the 28 individuals were involved in offences linked to the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution or viewing of child s3xual exploitation material.
A CBP spokesperson said the agency revoked the crew members’ visas before returning them to their respective countries. “CBP cancelled their visas and these criminals have been returned to their country of citizenship,” the spokesperson said.
It remains unclear how many of the individuals were directly connected to the Disney cruise ship or which companies operated the remaining vessels involved in the operation.
A spokesperson for Disney said the company fully cooperated with authorities during the investigation. “We have a zero tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the spokesperson said. “While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company.”
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