23 February 2007

MADRID - Spanish police arrested 25 people on suspicion with possessing child pornography images and distributing them over the Internet.

The Civil Guard said the arrests were carried out as a result of two simultaneous operations in 23 Spanish provinces.

The largest number of arrests took place in the province of Madrid, where eight people were taken into custody.

Some 59 searches also were carried out of people's homes, in which authorities found computers and floppy disks on which child pornography images were stored.

The first operation began in November 2005 after a complaint was filed with the Civil Guard in the southern city of Cordoba.

The informant alerted authorities to the existence of an Internet address where child pornography photographs and videos were being exchanged.

Some 2,800 Web users accessed the page, according to Civil Guard agents, who were able to identify those who downloaded files and confirm the existence of more than 2,100 e-mail addresses and 34 photo albums, which contained images of hardcore child porn.

That operation involved searches of 36 homes in 14 provinces, resulting in the discovery of numerous computers, DVDs and floppy disks containing the illegal images.

Meanwhile, the searches carried out as part of the second operation began last December and ended with 19 people arrested and charges filed against several others in 21 provinces.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news