Sunday, May 02, 2010

Child porn gang detained

From: NPE
Ninety four people have been detained around the country suspected of obtaining and distributing child pornography.

The sting, codenamed ‘Operation Mermaid’, saw officers raid 84 separate houses and flats and bring in 94 people for questioning. In addition to this, 14 hard drives, 123 computers, thousands of DVDs and CDs, as well as a number of mobile phones and pen drives, have been seized.

According to an official statement from the National Police Headquarters, “So far 10 of those detained have been charged with possessing or distributing underage pornography.”

“Some of the suspects said that they had downloaded porn files by mistake, not being aware of their exact content. However, officers have managed to establish that they did so repeatedly,” said police spokesman, Mariusz Sokolowski.

“But some people do obtain this type of content by mistake or out of curiosity, not realizing that it is in fact a crime,” he added.

He continued, “Those who find themselves accidently in possession of such photos, contact the police as soon as possible.”

‘Operation Mermaid’ is the fourth major operation of its kind to have been carried out in the last two years. Last year over 1,000 people were kept in custody suspected of possessing underage porn, resulting in 300 being charged. This year alone has seen 120 people arrested in January and an extra 64 detained under suspicion of distribution.

The suspects face up to five years for possession, and eight years for distribution of the illegal images.