The operation was carried out by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which boarded five cruise ships between April 23 and April 25 as part of an ongoing crackdown linked to child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), The New York Post reported.
Authorities said 28 crew members were questioned during the enforcement action, including 26 individuals from the Philippines, one from Portugal and one from Indonesia.
“After boarding the vessels and interviewing 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one suspected crew member from Portugal, and one from Indonesia, officers confirmed all subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSEM or child pornography,” a CBP spokesperson told The Post.
Officials added that the accused crew members had their visas revoked and were being deported from the US.
The New York Post reported that one of the vessels involved in the operation was the Disney Magic cruise ship which had docked in San Diego during the arrests. Videos recorded by passengers and accessed by the outlet allegedly showed crew members being handcuffed by federal authorities while travellers disembarked from the ship.
Passenger Dharmi Mehta, who filmed part of the incident, said one of the detained employees had served guests onboard during the voyage.
Disney later confirmed that some of its workers were among those detained during the investigation.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behaviour and fully cooperated with law enforcement. These individuals are no longer with the company,” a Disney spokesperson said.
Authorities have not publicly identified the other cruise lines involved in the operation but the report claimed that four crew members described as ‘seafarers’ were detained from the Holland America vessel MV Zaandam around the same time.
Meanwhile, the report also mentioned that The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department was not involved in the arrest.
