A Cairns couple who bought a Russian baby for the purpose of sexual exploitation have been linked to the abuse of other very young boys.
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Authorities have found videos at the couples' Trinity Beach home depicting the victimisation of at least two other boys in Australia, Indianapolis Deputy US Attorney Steven Debrota has told the ABC's 7.30 program on Tuesday.
Mr Debrota spoke about the discovery as the couple – Australians Mark J. Newton and his long-term boyfriend Peter Truong – faced court in the US on charges related to the sustained sexual abuse of their “adopted” son.
“I can't say too much about the identity of that child,” Mr Debrota said.
“I can say that the victimisation of Boy two occurred in Australia.
“We can confirm that this conspiracy we allege involving Boy one, Boy two and others was international in scope.”
Last week, Newton was sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing the boy that he and Truong, 36 from Queensland, had "adopted" after paying a Russian woman $8000 to be their surrogate in 2005.
According to the ABC, the pair forged documents to show Newton as the boy's biological father, enabling the adoption and return to Queensland.
Police believe the pair had adopted the boy "for the sole purpose of exploitation", with the abuse reported to have began just days after his birth.
Over the following six years, authorities say the couple travelled the world offering their son up for sex with at least eight men.
In a statement, US authorities said Newton and Truong, along with the other men who abused the boy, recorded the sex acts with high definition cameras.
The videos were uploaded to an international syndicate known as the Boy Lovers Network.
The Boy Lovers Network is known to police as a forum for men who describe sexual abuse and rape of boys as a form of consensual love between man and boy.
According to ABC reports the chat board, Boylover.net, had 70,000 members worldwide before it was the subject of a series of global raids that resulted in the arrests of several Australian men.
Officers from Task force Argos, the Queensland Police unit responsible for the investigation of on-line child exploitation and abuse, raided Truong and Newton's Cairns home in October 2011.
They discovered some of the videos on encrypted hard drives and computer networks.
Detective Inspector John Rouse told the ABC their work was not over.
"With this network just be rest assured that we will pursue them to the ends of the Earth to make sure each and every one of them faces justice for what their role has been in crimes against this child," he said.
