Four arrested in NI child porn probe

Four men have been arrested in Northern Ireland as part of a police probe into internet child porn, it emerged today.

The arrests were made following searches of home addresses and business premises across Northern Ireland over the past two weeks.

Detectives from the CARE Unit of the PSNI’s Serious Crimes Operations Department carried out the searches in relation to 25 people.

All four men were released pending further inquiries.

Police seized up to 100 computers and an extensive amount of software including CDs and DVDs during their inquiries.

A police spokeswoman said those under investigation came from all sections of society.

The inquiry formed part of the second phase of Operation Ore against internet paedophilia, launched in June 2002.

It began after US investigators found that people around the world were accessing images of child abuse from a site in Texas.

The computer consultant who ran the site, was jailed for 1,335 years for running an internet child porn ring.

Credit card details used to access material on the site gave police leads to 250,000 customers throughout the world.