A dog trained to sniff out electronic devices is being credited with helping catch a suspected high-profile pedophile who was hiding out in Mexico City.
Authorities say Hidu, a black Labrador retriever, was able to find hard drives full of child porn images hidden in the apartment of Jason Maatman, a Dutch man who openly advocates sex with children.
Maatman reportedly fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution for child pornography and human trafficking in the Netherlands. In early June, Maatman was tracked down by Netherlands-based Free a Girl and U.S.-based Operation Underground Railroad, both organizations that fight human trafficking.
The organizations used chat rooms and social media spaces Maatman was active on to find his location. Officials shared the information with Mexican law enforcement, which carried out a covert operation that resulted in Maatman's arrest.
Once Maatman was in custody, Hidu was brought in to search his apartment. Hidu is a recent graduate of the Jordan Detection K9 program in Indianapolis, Indiana, which teaches canines to sniff out a chemical coating used in electronic devices like flash drives and memory cards.
The search of Maatman's apartment was Hidu's very first case.
"My understanding is there was a cellphone hidden in a laundry basket with just rancid total terrible laundry, you know, dirty clothes in one corner that no one would go into. The dog found that phone," Matt Osborne, Operation Underground Railroad's director of global operations, told the Associated Press.
"The dog sniffed out a couple of the hard drives in a few places in his apartment that were difficult for humans to find, but the dog sniffed it out," Osborne added.
Authorities said the cell phone and hard drives were filled with images of child porn.
"We are so proud that our official O.U.R. ESD K9 Hidu was able to assist with the groundbreaking arrest," the organization said in a statement. "We are so grateful for the efforts of law enforcement, the collaborative organizations we work with, and the hardworking members of the O.U.R. team that bring predators like Maatman to justice."
Maatman is being held at a Mexico City prison on charges of human trafficking and drug and weapons possession, according to the AP.
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