A man will face court today after being charged for allegedly grooming a child online following an investigation by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad.

The Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) conducts ongoing investigations into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children online under Strike Force Trawler.

In March 2017, strike force officers began engaging online with a man from the state’s Coffs Coast.

Police will allege in court the man believed he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl and engaged in numerous sexually-explicit conversations with the child and made arrangements to meet for sex.

About 10am yesterday (Tuesday 23 May 2017), the 47-year-old man was arrested by strike force detectives in the Coffs Harbour area.

Detectives also executed a search warrant at a home in Woolgoolga, where they seized a computer and electronic storage devices.

The man was taken to Coffs Harbour Police Station and charged with two counts of using a carriage service to groom persons under 16, and using a carriage service to procure persons under 16.

He was refused bail to appear at Coffs Harbour Local Court today (Wednesday 24 May 2017).

Strike Force Trawler is an ongoing Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) investigation into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet and related telecommunications devices.

Regular covert online investigations are conducted by the Child Exploitation Internet Unit and police in NSW work closely with their law-enforcement colleagues interstate and overseas.

Anyone with information about internet predators should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/

Via NSW Police, Facebook

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