Nine people were arrested in dawn swoops in England and Scotland yesterday as part of the world's largest ever co-ordinated police crackdown on child pornography. Along with suspected paedophiles police seized computers and software and a massive amount of additional material for forensic examination, which they hope will yield still more vital evidence in the "unprecedented" assault on a global network with the internet at its heart.
The National Crime Squad (NCS) confirmed that police in 18 countries spanning four continents were in pursuit of more than 130 suspects following a ten-month investigation - codenamed Landmark - targeting people using internet news groups specialising in explicit images of child pornography and abuse.
The multi-national police action extended to 18 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Northern America, South Korea and Japan. More arrests are expected to follow as a result of the investigation which uncovered some 60,000 fresh images of sexual abuse downloaded and traded between paedophiles. It is understood many of the images uncovered by police involved babies while most were of prepubescent children.
The NCS gave no immediate indication of where yesterday's arrests took place in operations involving nine forces covering London, Kent, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, Thames Valley, Humberside and Strathclyde.
Those arrested were suspected of using internet newsgroups to request, exchange and supply paedophile material. An NCS spokesman said that in one instance a newsgroup was used to seek help with the "grooming" of a young child for abuse. Intelligence gathered over the 10-month investigation showed "dozens" of newsgroups carrying illegal paedophile images.
Detective Superintendent Peter Spindler, who headed the operation for the NCS, gave blunt notice: "If you have an interest in this type of material, then society has a right to know who you are, what's your DNA and have we got you on the Sex Offenders' Register." He told the BBC: "That is what is going to happen to the people that have been arrested," adding that it was "particularly disturbing" that the paedophile images on the news groups were open to access even by children.
Detective Sergeant Doug Bewley, of Scotland Yard's paedophile unit, said: "Any piece of child pornography is an example of child abuse. There is no anonymity on the internet for anybody who deals with this disgusting material. It is a serious offence and any persons being found involved in it will be arrested and dealt with."
However news of the huge international police action prompted calls for a fresh clampdown on internet service providers allowing paedophiles access to such material, and to do so using false addresses in a bid to maintain their anonymity.