500 arrested in crackdown on child porn ring

FIVE hundred people have been arrested in 12 countries as part of a international crackdown on child pornography.

Spain said it arrested 19 people as part of the operation. The child porn ring is said to have used the internet to distribute videos, photos and other material. Police said more than 500 suspects were targeted for arrest in 12 countries in Europe and Latin America.

The paedophilia ring distributed more than 20,000 videos, photos and MP3 audio files through a Spanish-language internet chat room, according to a statement from the Civil Guard.

The probe was co-ordinated by Eurojust, a European law enforcement body, and Ibered, a similar agency operating in Latin America.

Police started monitoring the chat room after receiving a complaint and in just 15 days identified more than 900 addresses from which people logged onto the site.

Spanish police named the other countries as France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Chile, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.