Authorities in Bucks County say a 19-year-old local man took off for the United Arab Emirates after a June search of his home turned up child sexual abuse material, and they are now trying to track him down. Police identify the suspect as 19-year-old Shahnoor Khurram Afridi. According to investigators, there is now an active fugitive-from-justice arrest warrant for him. Afridi is described as 5-foot-5, about 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
CyberTips Put Afridi on Investigators’ Radar
Investigators first zeroed in on Afridi after a series of CyberTips tied to Yahoo, Snapchat and Facebook, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia. Officers from the New Britain Township Police Department served a warrant at his home on June 5 and say they later found child sexual abuse material on his devices. At some point after that search, authorities say, Afridi left for the United Arab Emirates.
Why CyberTips Drive So Many Cases
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says electronic service providers are required to report suspected child sexual abuse material to its CyberTipline, and most of the reports the center receives now come from those companies. The Justice Department Project Safe Childhood initiative coordinates federal, state and local efforts around the country on child-exploitation prosecutions that grow out of those kinds of tips.
Bucks County’s Growing List of CyberTip Cases
Bucks County has already seen several similar online-exploitation cases this year, including a Bensalem cybertip bust and a Warminster CSAM case. Together, those investigations show how quickly an internet tip can turn into a search warrant, a review of phones and computers and a much deeper criminal probe.
