National
63 arrested in Internet child porn swoops in Spain
By m.p.
Dec 17, 2007 - 12:18 AM

The Interior Ministry has released details of five separate operations against child pornography which have led to 63 arrests across the country and a large amount of pornographic material seized.

It’s an investigation which began two years ago, assisted by forces from the United States, Germany and New Zealand, which saw four arrests in Lloret de Mar, Girona province, and Benidorm, in Alicante, in a first phase. All four suspects were Russian citizens who are believed to be members of an international network which sold Internet access to pornographic images and videos. Twenty of the web site users were later identified and taken into custody.

Another five suspects were arrested in phase two, then 24 in the summer of 2006 who were identified as having distributed a pornographic video via P2P networks. Police said information from the public was key in identifying suspects in phase four, Operation Nokian, at the end of last year, when a further six people were taken into custody.

The final phase was centred on Alcalá de Henares, in Madrid, after information from a member of the public of a pornographic film freely available over the Internet. Four people were arrested on that occasion in Alcalá, Casteldefels in Barcelona and Valencia.