Fears man linked to major child porn ring
Gardaí from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigations, based in Dublin, seized computer equipment from a house in west Cork yesterday.
The seizure followed a complaint alleging that intimate pictures of two girls were taken by the man.
It has emerged, following the seizure, that both children live in the region and were described as very young.
A senior garda spokesman added that he believed there may be a number of "other young children," who have yet to be identified, who could have been photographed by the man and whose pictures may have subsequently been passed on to paedophiles through the internet.
The man was arrested following a raid on a house in the Castletownbere area at around 9am yesterday.
Detectives, who had been working on the case for some time, took away his computer equipment which will now be sent to experts at Garda Headquarters in Dublin for analysis.
A senior garda spokesman said it was possible that the man may have been involved in both a "national and international" paedophile ring, but added it could take some time to establish the true nature of his activities.
"We are treating this case in a very, very serious fashion.
"We believe there could be a number of other victims out there, but we are still at an early stage of our investigations," the garda spokesman said.
The man, who is believed to come from the Bantry area, was held until 9pm last night.
"He was then released without charge.
"However, I can say that a file will now be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions," the spokesman said.
Gardaí stressed that this was a new investigation into alleged child pornography on the internet and had nothing to do with Operation Amethyst, which was launched on May 27, 2002.
Operation Amethyst led to the seizure of hundreds of computers owned by suspected paedophiles around the country.
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