- MAGDEBURG, Germany (Reuters)
- Police have cracked a huge international child pornography network involving
some 26,500 Internet users in 166 countries, German authorities said on
Friday.
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- "One of the biggest internationally active networks
has been smashed," said Curt Becker, justice minister for the eastern
German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
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- The probe began with the seizure of computer files last
year from a man in the German city of Magdeburg, which yielded data on
thousands of Internet users suspected of swapping child pornography.
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- A spokeswoman for the federal police office said German
police had played a leading role in the resulting international probe.
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- Officials in Saxony-Anhalt said 502 premises were searched
across Germany this week in an operation codenamed Marcy. Police seized
745 computers, at least 35,500 CDs, 8,300 diskettes and 5,800 videos.
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- As a result, the state justice ministry said 530 German
citizens had been placed under suspicion of possessing or distributing
child pornography.
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- "Worldwide, 166 countries with about 26,500 suspected
Internet users are affected," the ministry said in a statement. It
said investigations were being coordinated by the federal police office
and Interpol.
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