Halifax police charge youth over alleged participation in online violent extremist group

A youth in Halifax is facing child pornography charges that police say are connected to a transnational online violent extremist group that targets children and teens playing popular online video games such as Roblox and Minecraft.

RCMP have been warning Canadian parents for months about the group, known as the Com network, because of its insidious online recruitment tactics, which involve grooming youth and then threatening and coercing them to engage in explicit acts and self-harm, sexually exploit other kids and kill family pets. Videos of victims are often then used by predators as blackmail to gain more control over them, police say.

“Many of us can’t imagine our children being pulled into a world like this, but children and youth are vulnerable, especially those who struggle with isolation and social connections in the real world, which many do at that age,” Halifax Regional Police Chief Don MacLean told reporters Tuesday.