Web child porn raids across Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Police have swooped on a suspected Internet child pornography ring in a series of raids across Europe.

Police raided 50 premises in Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden in a clampdown on a major Internet-based paedophile network the European Union's police agency Europol said.

The 12-month operation code-named Operation Twins also seized computers, videos and CDs.

The crackdown on 50 suspected members of a "prolific paedophile gang" centred on Germany, where police searched the homes and offices of 31 people. The suspected porn-ring operated Internet bulletin boards out of Germany, police said.

The gang was "a group of paedophiles who exchanged photos and videos of violence committed against their own sons and daughters and other children," Italian police said.

The gang's activities included the production and distribution of child pornography and abuse of children. Abuse was filmed and broadcast in "real time" over the Internet, police said.

The investigation began in Sweden more than a year ago but rapidly broadened to other countries. Europol, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, coordinated the operation involving 12 countries, including the United States, Canada and Switzerland.

"The data reviewed during the investigation numbered hundreds and thousands of images, thousands of videos depicting hundreds of child victims, most of whom remain unidentified," Europol said.

Dutch police told Reuters the operation was still in full swing in the Netherlands but declined further comment.

The operation, set up last year by Britain's National High-Tech Crime Unit to tackle cyber-crime, has found that paedophiles trawling the Internet are using increasingly sophisticated computer security systems to hide their abuse.

"Operation Twins has exposed the complex, sophisticated and organised hierarchical structure that online paedophile groups are now using to protect themselves, including their identities and the atrocious activities they are involved in," NHTCU head Len Hynds said.

UK police carried out their biggest crackdown on Internet child pornography in May after acting on 75 warrants.

A large number of computers were seized in the coordinated raids then which took place across 34 UK districts.

In that investigation police used custom-made software to focus on paedophiles who use Internet chatrooms to exchange images of children.

Last November police carried out 130 raids in 19 countries in a global sweep against Internet child pornography.

"Operation Landmark" targeted people who downloaded and distributed child pornography from the Internet.

Police in 19 countries -- Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States -- executed search and arrest warrants, acting on information supplied by Interpol.

In one instance, the UK's National Crime Squad said, a newsgroup was used to seek help with the 'grooming' of a young child for abuse.