An Auckland man has been sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment for crimes involving child sexual exploitation images and videos, including production.
The 33-year-old was sentenced in the Waitakere District Court yesterday.
The man was convicted of charges including exporting, importing, possessing, distributing and producing child sexual abuse publications.
Customs began an investigation last July after receiving reports and information from an overseas agency that claimed he had uploaded child sexual exploitation images to a Canadian-based messenger app.
In August, customs agents identified and searched the man's home and he was arrested after a formal interview, during which he admitted his crimes, the agency said.
The investigation also revealed content from the man's trip to the Philippines in 2016, during which he had paid for sexual services from an underage teenage boy.
In addition to producing child sexual abuse publications, forensic examination of the man's electronic devices located 14,047 objectionable publications, most of which depicted the sexual exploitation of children - including infants.
"Trading or even possessing such images and videos is a serious crime in New Zealand, and producing them takes the offending to a whole new level of severity." customs' manager of operations and investigations Stephen Waugh said in a statement.
"This case serves as a warning to travelling child sex offenders - customs can and will prosecute for such child sexual exploitation offences."
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