‘A bigger problem than we think’: Forced marriages in Australia going unreported
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw is appealing for people to come forward and report crimes of human trafficking and forced marriages.
Ray Hadley described a recent forced marriage investigation as “most disturbing” and highlighted that “it may be a bigger problem than we think”.
Three people have been charged in connection to the alleged forced marriage of a 20-year-old Victorian woman, who later became the victim of an alleged homicide in Western Australia.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw told Ray Hadley the prevalence of this sort of crime tends to be underreported.
“It’s something that we’re working on with … diverse communities across the country to report the incidences of this particular horrible act.
“We’re really encouraging the public to come forward … and we do take it seriously.”
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The AFP Commissioner also detailed tremendous efforts targeting child exploitation and abuse crimes.
A Belgian tourist in Australia who was found guilty of selling child pornography online to fund his holidays, had his assets frozen in a AFP first since introducing their aggressive strategy targeting child sex offender assets.
Mr Kershaw revealed they have “thousands” of referrals of child exploitation to investigate.
“And probably going into the hundreds of thousands down the track.
“But one of the things that we’re going to be looking at is, not only will we take your … bank accounts and everything, we’re looking at taking your house as well.”
Image: Getty