Feds arrest cruise ship crew members for alleged child porn crimes

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel boarded eight cruise ships docked in San Diego Bay last month and arrested more than two dozen crew members on suspicion of child pornography crimes, the federal agency reported today.

The enforcement operation, which took place over a five-day period beginning April 23, led to the cancellation of the suspects' work visas and their deportation to their home countries, according to CBP public affairs.   

Agents interviewed 28 suspects -- a total of 26 from the Philippines, and one each from Indonesia and Portugal -- and determined that all but one "were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution or viewing of ... child pornography,'' the agency alleged.

"CBP canceled their visas, and these criminals have been returned to their country of citizenship,'' the agency asserted in an email to City News Service.

Customs officials did not identity the suspects or the cruise companies for which they worked.