Anonymous Launches Hacking Operation After Canadian Police 'Ignore' Evidence of Teen's Innocence

The personal details of a Canadian police officer involved in investigating a teenager over alleged "swatting", or making fake emergency calls, were posted on the hacked City of Ottawa website by online activist group Anonymous.

The website was replaced for an hour with the picture of a dancing banana, and the name of Const. Joel Demore of Ottawa Police West District Investigations, along with his email address, reports CBC.

"Joel Demore: You laugh at us, you are scared of us, does this help your laughing?" the hacked website read. "We can destroy everything, this is a flex of our power. Please, test us. You know what we want."

The website was restored on Saturday afternoon, and police have said they are investigating the incident.

It is part of Anonymous' two-week old Operation Soaring Eagle campaign, which has seen the group claim it has accessed the Ottawa police's server, and that it plans to publish details of email exchanges between officers, and the home addresses of investigators.

"Are we serious enough? This is just the start, Operation Soaring Eagle will continue, until we see fit that it is completed. We will be taking over all ottawa [sic] police networks, shutdown communications on the internet, hijack domains, servers, and soo much more [sic]. It all starts today (Friday)," the group posted following the attack.

The group later published Demore's home address and phone number, reports the Toronto Sun.

The boy, 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces 60 criminal charges after allegedly calling emergency services across North America to report fake emergencies and hostage situations, with some calls resulting in emergency SWAT teams being dispatched.

The boy's father has told reporters that hacktivist collective Anonymous has provided him with evidence that his son is innocent, but that Demore was refusing to take their claims seriously.

"I was at my wit's end, and then I got an email, and the email was from Anonymous, the hacker group," the boy's father told reporters. "And it says… here's the evidence to free your son.

"And… the people helping me have guaranteed me that more evidence is coming."

A Twitter user using the handle Aerith posted that police had been provided with evidence exonerating the teen, but had ignored it.

"Enough is enough. We offered to give (police) information on (the) real swatter… in exchange let (the Barrhaven suspect) go, they laughed… They questioned our skills… That young lad is innocent, this is just pure bull****" reads the posting.

That account has now been suspended.